Capture Plans

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Your Blueprint for Beating the Competition

A capture plan isn’t a document you write for compliance - it’s your playbook for winning. It forces you to think through how you’re going to beat your competitors, what the customer really wants, and what it will take to get the contract. Companies with good capture plans win 3x more often than those that wing it. The reality: Most companies either skip capture planning entirely or write generic plans that collect dust. Winners use capture plans as living documents that guide every decision and action during pursuit.

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What Goes in a Winning Capture Plan

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Executive Summary (The One Page That Matters)

This is what your executives and capture team read first. Make it count:

• What We’re Chasing: One sentence describing the opportunity and why it matters to your business
• Why We’ll Win: The 2-3 strongest reasons the customer should choose you over everyone else
• Our Strategy: How you’re going to position against the competition and win
• Win Probability: Your honest assessment (if it’s under 30%, question whether you should bid)
• Investment Required: What this pursuit will cost in dollars and people

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Solution Overview (What You’re Actually Going to Deliver)

Don’t write a generic solution description - show you understand their specific problem:

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Competitive Positioning (Know Your Enemy)

Figure out how to beat each competitor before they can beat you:

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Size Up the Competition

Competitor	Their Strengths	Their Weaknesses	How They’ll Attack	How You’ll Counter
Incumbent Co.	5 years of customer relationship	Outdated technology approach	”Don’t risk change"	"Innovation without disruption”
MegaCorp	Unlimited resources	High overhead costs	”We can do everything"	"Right-sized, focused solution”
LowBid Inc.	Rock bottom pricing	Limited capabilities	”Cheapest option"	"Best value, not lowest cost”

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Your Strategic Position

What Makes You Dangerous:

• Past performance that directly matches their needs
• Technical capabilities competitors can’t match
• Key people with relevant experience and relationships
• Customer relationships built over years

Where You’re Vulnerable:

• Areas where competitors are stronger
• Potential customer concerns about your approach
• Resource or capability limitations
• Past performance gaps or weaknesses

What’s Working in Your Favor:

• Market trends that favor your approach
• Customer pain points you can uniquely address
• Technology shifts that give you an advantage
• Partnership opportunities that strengthen your position

What Could Sink You:

• Strong competitors with better positioning
• Budget cuts that reduce opportunity value
• Technical challenges you can’t overcome
• Schedule pressures that favor incumbents

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Your Winning Messages (Win Themes and Discriminators)

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Win Themes: Why They Should Choose You

Win themes are your best arguments for why the customer should pick you. They must pass three tests:

• Customer-focused: Solve their specific problems and priorities
• Differentiating: Something competitors can’t say as convincingly
• Provable: Backed by hard evidence they can verify

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Build Themes That Win

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Win Theme Example

Customer Problem: “We need cybersecurity that actually stops attacks without breaking our operations” Our Theme: “Our cybersecurity framework has protected critical infrastructure for 15 years with zero successful breaches while maintaining 99.99% system availability.” Proof Points:

• 15 years protecting DoD networks with zero successful attacks
• 50+ installations with perfect security record
• 99.99% uptime maintained throughout security implementation
• 24/7 monitoring with average 90-second response time

Why Competitors Can’t Say This: New providers don’t have the track record; large providers have been breached; others can’t prove operational continuity during security upgrades.

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Discriminators

Discriminators are specific advantages that set you apart from all competitors. They must be:

• Unique: Only you can claim this advantage
• Relevant: Important to the customer’s decision
• Provable: Demonstrable with hard evidence

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Types of Discriminators

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Price-to-Win Analysis

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Market Research

Gather pricing intelligence through:

• Historical contract awards in similar scope
• Industry benchmarking data
• Competitor pricing patterns from past pursuits
• Customer budget discussions and insights

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Pricing Strategy Development

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Price-to-Win Modeling

Build pricing models that consider:

• Independent cost estimates (ICE) ranges
• Competitor pricing capabilities and patterns
• Customer budget constraints and expectations
• Win probability at different price levels

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Capture Plan Development Process

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Phase 1: Initial Assessment (Bid Decision)

• Market research and opportunity analysis
• Initial competitive assessment
• High-level solution concept
• Go/no-go recommendation

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Phase 2: Detailed Planning (Early Capture)

• Comprehensive requirements analysis
• Detailed competitive intelligence
• Win theme development
• Initial pricing strategy

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Phase 3: Strategy Refinement (Active Capture)

• Solution optimization based on customer feedback
• Competitive strategy adjustments
• Pricing model refinement
• Team and partnership finalizations

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Phase 4: Pre-Proposal (RFP Release Preparation)

• Final strategy validation
• Proposal planning and resource allocation
• Risk assessment and mitigation
• Readiness review and approval

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Managing Capture Plans

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Version Control

• Track plan revisions and updates
• Maintain change logs with rationale
• Archive historical versions
• Distribute updates to team members

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Collaboration Features

• Real-time editing for team collaboration
• Comment threads for discussions and feedback
• Task assignment for action items
• Approval workflows for plan sign-offs

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Integration Points

• Opportunity data automatically flows into plans
• Competitive intelligence updates dynamically
• Team assignments sync with resource planning
• Gate reviews reference current plan status

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Capture Plan Templates

Rogue provides industry-specific templates:

• IT Services: Technology solution captures
• Professional Services: Consulting and support contracts
• Construction: Facilities and infrastructure projects
• R&D: Research and development opportunities
• Manufacturing: Product delivery contracts

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Customizing Templates

Adapt templates to your organization:

• Add company-specific sections
• Customize evaluation criteria
• Include standard win themes
• Set default competitive factors

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Best Practices

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Content Quality

• Be specific: Use concrete examples and quantified benefits
• Stay current: Update plans as new intelligence becomes available
• Focus on differentiation: Emphasize what makes you unique
• Support with evidence: Every claim should have supporting proof

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Process Discipline

• Regular updates: Review and refresh plans at least weekly
• Team collaboration: Involve all key team members in development
• Gate reviews: Use plans as basis for capture decision points
• Lessons learned: Capture insights for future opportunities

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Strategic Thinking

• Customer-centric: Always view from the customer’s perspective
• Competition-aware: Consider what competitors will do
• Risk-conscious: Address potential challenges proactively
• Value-focused: Emphasize benefits over features

Ready to learn about developing win themes and discriminators in detail?