Source & Authority Information
- •FAR Subpart 15.2 - Solicitation and Receipt of Proposals(accessed 2026-01-15)
Understanding the Stakes of Pursuit Decisions
Core Evaluation Criteria
- Customer relationship: Do you have established relationships with decision-makers and understanding of their priorities?
- Requirements understanding: Do you clearly understand what the customer needs and how they will evaluate proposals?
- Technical capability: Can you deliver exceptional performance meeting all requirements?
- Past performance: Do you have relevant, recent, successful past performance demonstrating capability?
- Competitive position: How do you compare to likely competitors on key evaluation factors?
- Price competitiveness: Can you price competitively while maintaining profitability?
- Strategic fit: Does this opportunity align with your business strategy and target markets?
- Resources availability: Do you have the resources to develop a winning proposal and perform the work?
Evaluating Customer Relationships
Assessing Technical Capability
Analyzing Past Performance Fit
- 1Map Requirements to Experience
Compare each major requirement element to your contract history. Identify contracts demonstrating successful performance on similar work. Note any gaps where requirements do not match past performance.
- 2Assess Relevance Strength
Evaluate how closely past performance matches the current requirement. Identical work for the same customer is most relevant. Similar work for different customers is moderately relevant. Different work with transferable skills is weakly relevant.
- 3Verify Performance Quality
Confirm that your past performance is actually positive. Check CPARS ratings if available. Contact references to ensure they will provide strong feedback. Negative or neutral performance ratings harm rather than help.
- 4Compare to Competitors
Consider competitor past performance relative to yours. If incumbents or competitors have more relevant, more recent, or better-rated performance, assess your competitive disadvantage realistically.
Understanding Competitive Position
Evaluating Strategic Fit
Building a Scoring Framework
- Customer relationship: 0-25 points based on relationship depth and influence
- Technical capability: 0-20 points based on capability match and differentiation
- Past performance: 0-20 points based on relevance and quality
- Competitive position: 0-15 points based on relative strength versus competitors
- Price competitiveness: 0-10 points based on ability to price competitively with profit
- Strategic fit: 0-10 points based on alignment with business strategy
- Total possible: 100 points; pursuit threshold might be 60 or higher
