Stay on Top of Every Opportunity
Government contracts take 12-24 months from discovery to award. A lot can happen in that time - amendments, deadline changes, new competitors, key personnel moves. Miss one critical update and you could lose a contract you spent a year pursuing.The Long Road to Contract Award
1
Discovery
What’s happening: You find out about the opportunity (through SAM.gov, networking, or intelligence)
Your focus: Figure out if this is worth pursuing
Timeline: Can be 6-18 months before the RFP drops
2
Decision Point
What’s happening: Time to decide if you’re going to chase this or not
Your focus: Honest assessment - can you win this? Should you?
Critical moment: Bid/no-bid decision determines everything that follows
3
Capture Phase
What’s happening: Active pursuit - this is where you actually win the contract
Your focus: Build relationships, position your solution, gather intelligence
Timeline: Usually 3-12 months (the longer the better for relationship building)
4
Proposal Phase
What’s happening: RFP is out and you’re writing your response
Your focus: Execute on all the positioning work you did during capture
Timeline: 30-90 days (tight deadlines, high stress)
5
Evaluation
What’s happening: Government reviews all proposals and makes their decision
Your focus: Answer questions, give presentations, stay engaged
Timeline: 30-180 days (feels like forever)
6
Award
What’s happening: Winner announced and contract negotiations begin
Your focus: If you won - celebrate and start performance. If you lost - capture lessons learned
Never Miss Another Critical Date
Automatic Date Tracking
Stop maintaining spreadsheets with dozens of deadline columns:- RFP Release: Get alerts when solicitations drop (the race begins)
- Questions Due: Submit your questions before the deadline (critical for clarifications)
- Answers Posted: Review government responses (often reveals important details)
- Proposal Due: Never miss a submission deadline again
- Award Date: Know when the government expects to announce the winner
- Performance Start: Plan your team transition and startup activities
See Where Everything Stands
Know the status of every opportunity at a glance:Full Pursuit
You’re investing capture resources and actively competing
Monitoring Only
You’re watching for intelligence but not spending capture dollars
Paused
Waiting for something (budget approval, team availability, more information)
Decided
Won, lost, or no-bid decision made - opportunity is closed
Stay Ahead of the Game
Alerts That Actually Matter
Get notified about things that could cost you contracts: Deadline Warnings:- 30, 14, 7, and 1 day alerts for key dates (you choose the timing)
- Same-day reminders for proposal deadlines (no excuses for late submissions)
- Custom warnings based on how long your processes take
- New amendments published (requirements might have changed)
- Government Q&A responses posted (often reveal important clarifications)
- Industry day materials released (competitive intelligence goldmine)
- Related opportunities published (could indicate pattern or larger procurement)
- New competitors discovered (know who you’re up against)
- Incumbent contract changes (could signal recompete timing or scope changes)
- Industry news affecting your opportunities (regulatory changes, budget impacts)
- Competitor teaming announcements (intelligence on their strategy)
Get Notified Your Way
Choose how you want to receive critical alerts:- Email alerts with daily or weekly digest options
- Dashboard notifications when you’re in the system
- Mobile push notifications for truly critical deadlines
- Team alerts so everyone stays informed on shared opportunities
- Escalation rules when deadlines are missed (automatic manager notification)
See Everything At Once
Pipeline View
Understand your entire opportunity portfolio:- Visual pipeline - drag and drop opportunities between stages as they progress
- Weighted pipeline value - see your potential revenue by probability of winning
- Win rate tracking - know which stages and time periods are most successful
- Resource allocation - see where your capture dollars are being invested
Calendar View
Never double-book your team or miss critical dates:- Master calendar showing every important deadline across all opportunities
- Color coding to instantly see priority levels and opportunity stages
- Team scheduling - see when your people are committed to gate reviews and customer meetings
- Conflict alerts when you’re planning to assign people who aren’t available
Analysis View
Dig deep into your opportunity data:- Sortable lists - organize by deadline, value, win probability, or any other criteria
- Smart filters - find exactly the opportunities you want to analyze
- Bulk updates - change status, assignments, or other fields for multiple opportunities at once
- Export functionality - generate reports for board meetings and capture reviews
Track Your Progress
Key Milestones to Track
Don’t wing it - track the activities that determine whether you win:Before the RFP Drops
Before the RFP Drops
- First customer meeting scheduled (relationship building begins)
- Competition identified and assessed (know who you’re up against)
- Capture team assembled and committed (right people, right roles)
- Solution concept developed (what you’re actually going to propose)
- Pricing strategy defined (how you’ll be competitive on cost)
Active Capture
Active Capture
- Capture plan approved (roadmap to winning)
- Win themes tested with customer (does your message resonate?)
- Key partnerships locked in (teaming strategy executed)
- Gate reviews completed (quality control checkpoints)
- Proposal strategy finalized (ready for RFP release)
Proposal Phase
Proposal Phase
- Proposal kickoff completed (team aligned and started)
- Draft sections completed on schedule (progress tracking)
- Review cycles completed (Blue Team, Pink Team, Red Team)
- Final proposal submitted on time (no last-minute scrambles)
- Post-submission follow-up completed (Q&A, presentations)
Visual Progress Indicators
Know where you stand at a glance:- Progress bars showing how much of each phase is complete
- Health indicators - red/yellow/green status showing if you’re on track
- Time remaining calculations so you can prioritize effectively
- Budget tracking against your capture investment limits
Never Work with Old Documents
Government Document Tracking
Stay current with changing requirements:- Amendment alerts the moment solicitations change (requirements often shift)
- Side-by-side comparison showing exactly what changed between versions
- Strategy impact analysis - how do changes affect your approach?
- Automatic team notifications so everyone works with current documents
Your Internal Documents
Keep your team aligned with version control:- Capture plan evolution - track changes as your strategy develops
- Proposal outline approvals - see what’s been reviewed and approved
- Pricing model updates - know when costs change and why
- Review feedback tracking - ensure all comments get addressed
Everything Works Together
Customer Relationships
Your opportunity tracking connects with relationship management:- Every customer interaction gets logged to the right opportunity
- Meeting summaries become part of your opportunity timeline
- Relationship strength updates based on your engagement level
- Intelligence gathering feeds directly into your capture strategy
Resource Planning
Know where your people and money are going:- Team assignments show who’s working on what and when they’re available
- Budget tracking monitors your capture spending against opportunity value
- Facility planning helps you understand space and equipment needs
- Proposal resource planning ensures you have enough people when RFPs drop
Seamless Proposal Handoff
When capture becomes proposal, nothing gets lost:- Instant war room setup with all your opportunity intelligence
- Complete document transfer - every solicitation document and amendment
- Smooth team transition from capture roles to proposal roles
- Full intelligence transfer including all competitive analysis and customer insights
Know Where You Stand
Portfolio Analysis
Understand your capture performance: Pipeline Health:- Total opportunity value by stage and win probability
- Win rate trends over time (are you getting better?)
- Time spent in each stage (where do opportunities stall?)
- Stage conversion rates (where do you lose opportunities?)
- Cost per opportunity and cost per win (ROI analysis)
- Resource utilization across your portfolio (team efficiency)
- Individual and team performance metrics (who wins most?)
- Customer relationship strength trends (which agencies like you?)
- Market share by customer and agency (where are you strong?)
- Win/loss records against specific competitors (who beats you?)
- Incumbent analysis (how often do you beat the incumbent?)
- Pricing intelligence (are you competitive on cost?)
Predict Your Future
Use your data to make better decisions:- Pipeline forecasting based on realistic win probabilities
- Resource planning - predict when you’ll need more people
- Win probability modeling using your historical performance
- Revenue forecasting with confidence levels for planning
How to Win More Consistently
Keep Your Data Clean
- Update regularly - stale data leads to bad decisions
- Realistic dates - if you don’t believe the timeline, change it
- Complete records - missing information costs you opportunities
- Regular cleanup - archive old opportunities and keep your pipeline current
Coordinate Your Team
- Clear ownership - someone owns each opportunity and its data
- Weekly reviews - regular pipeline meetings with key people
- Escalation rules - clear process when problems arise
- Consistent standards - everyone documents information the same way
Follow Your Process
- Don’t skip stages - meet the criteria before advancing
- Document decisions - you’ll need to remember why you made them
- Capture lessons learned - wins and losses both teach you something
- Maintain records - complete history for audits and compliance
Focus on What Matters
- Prioritize ruthlessly - focus on your best opportunities
- Diversify wisely - don’t put all your eggs in one agency’s basket
- Manage risks - know what could kill your opportunities
- Position strategically - use intelligence to guide your approach