One of the biggest decisions in government contracting happens before you write a proposal: are you going to pursue the opportunity at all?
That’s the go/no-go decision. Pursuits take significant time and money, so knowing what to pass on matters as much as finding something to bid on. For smaller companies, every pursuit also takes time away from delivering existing work and exploring other opportunities.
Building a go/no-go framework doesn’t need to be complicated, but it does require understanding the factors behind the decision. For companies new to government contracting, I’d start with three questions.
1. Are you eligible?
Before spending hours figuring out how you’d win, check whether you meet the requirements to compete.
Start with the set-aside and company size requirements. Then review the place of performance, mandatory qualifications, certifications, and any other conditions in the solicitation.
Oftentimes, these details are buried in solicitation documents. An opportunity might look like a strong fit based on its title and summary, but a requirement in an attachment could change that assessment.
It also helps to separate eligibility from your ability to deliver. Not qualifying for a set-aside is a different problem from needing additional staff. One may rule you out, while the other might be something you can address before performance begins.
The goal is to identify these issues early, before you’ve committed significant time to the pursuit.
2. Can you realistically compete?
Being able to do the work is a starting point. You also need to consider your past performance, staffing, agency experience, and who else is likely to bid.
Look at what the solicitation asks you to demonstrate. Do you have relevant examples of similar work? Can you meet the staffing requirements? Does your experience line up with how the government plans to evaluate proposals?
There’s a difference between meeting a minimum requirement and having enough relevant experience to be competitive. You might qualify to submit a proposal but struggle to explain why the government should choose you.
Then consider the incumbent. If a company has held the contract for several iterations, it may already have the staff, customer knowledge, and delivery experience that you’d need to build. If you can’t explain why you’d be able to displace them, it might be a no-go.
That doesn’t mean every contract with an incumbent should be avoided. It means you should have a credible reason to pursue it, whether that’s a stronger technical approach, better pricing, or a team with particularly relevant experience.
If you’re missing a capability, consider whether a teaming partner can realistically fill the gap. Then reassess your competitiveness based on the team you can actually put together.
3. Would winning be worth it?
An opportunity can be a strong capability match and still make little financial sense.
Can you offer a competitive price and make enough margin to justify the work? Have you accounted for staffing, transition costs, overhead, and the resources needed to deliver successfully?
Especially on a lowest price technically acceptable, or LPTA, pursuit, it’s worth answering these questions before investing in a proposal. Your profit margins should only go as low as you’re comfortable.
That threshold will differ by company and opportunity. You might accept a lower margin to establish experience with a new agency, but that should be a deliberate decision based on what you can afford.
Timing matters too. If performance starts before you can hire the necessary staff or free up your existing team, the cost of delivering may be higher than it initially appears.
The question is whether winning would be worthwhile for your business, given the price, workload, and delivery risk involved.
Bringing the information together
These questions are straightforward. Gathering the information to answer them is often what takes the most time.
You need to read solicitation documents, compare requirements against your company’s experience, research the competition, and understand the economics. When that information is scattered across documents and spreadsheets, even deciding whether to pursue an opportunity becomes a project.
That’s how I think about what we’re building at Capto. We bring eligibility, competitive context, capability gaps, and pricing considerations together so contractors can make these decisions faster.
The goal is to present the relevant information clearly: what makes the opportunity a fit, what could rule you out, and what you’d need to address before committing. You stay in control of the go/no-go decision, with the context to make it confidently.