For companies that bid to federal and state agencies

Federal and state proposal guides

Plain, practical guides written the way experienced capture and proposal managers work: what the FAR actually says, what evaluators score, and the checklists and templates that keep a bid compliant. No fluff, no jargon for its own sake.

23 guides

Finding work

SAM.gov registration explained: UEI, CAGE code and what to expect

You cannot be awarded a federal contract without an active SAM.gov registration, and you cannot get one in a day. This guide walks through the registration in the order it actually happens, what each step is for, the delays that catch new contractors, and the annual renewal that quietly lapses if nobody owns it.

7 min read

Finding work

NAICS codes and PSC codes for government contractors, explained

Two code systems decide whether you can see, bid and win a federal requirement: the NAICS code that names the industry and sets the size standard, and the Product Service Code that names what is being bought. Contractors who understand both find more work and lose fewer bids on eligibility.

6 min read

Finding work

8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB and WOSB: which small business certification fits you

Set-asides move about a quarter of federal contract dollars to small businesses, and most of that flows through four certifications. Each has a different test, a different reward and a different cost to maintain. This guide compares them so you can decide which to pursue and in what order.

6 min read

Finding work

How to find federal contract opportunities on SAM.gov

SAM.gov publishes every federal opportunity above the micro-purchase threshold. Most contractors search it badly. This guide shows how to search it like a capture manager: by code, by set-aside, by buying office, and early enough to shape the requirement.

7 min read

Finding work

How to find state and local government contract opportunities

State and local governments buy more in total than the federal government, and they do it through fifty different systems, each with its own portal, vocabulary and rules. This guide shows where the work is published, what changes when you leave the FAR behind, and how to track state bids without building a second capture process.

9 min read

Finding work

How to write a capability statement that contracting officers keep

A capability statement is the one-page document that answers a contracting officer's first question: who are you and what can you do for me. Most are thrown away because they read like brochures. This guide shows how to write one that survives the first read and gets you onto a bidder's list.

6 min read

Finding work

How to respond to a Sources Sought notice or RFI

A Sources Sought response is not a proposal, and it is not marketing. It is evidence that helps a contracting officer make a decision about competition. Written well, it can set the requirement aside for companies like yours before a single page of the RFP exists.

7 min read

Reading the RFP

Section L, Section M and Section C explained

Three sections of a federal RFP decide whether a proposal is even scored: Section L tells you how to write it, Section M tells you how it will be judged, and Section C tells you what the work is. Read them in the right order and the outline writes itself.

8 min read

Reading the RFP

Proposal compliance matrix template: what it tracks and why bids fail without one

The compliance matrix is the one document that keeps a federal proposal honest. It tracks every requirement the solicitation imposes, who owns it, where it is answered and whether the answer complies. Teams that keep one do not get surprised by an evaluator; teams that skip it usually do.

7 min read

Reading the RFP

Solicitation amendments and Q&A: what changes and what you must acknowledge

Between release and submission the solicitation keeps moving: questions are answered, dates shift, page limits change, whole sections are replaced. Teams that treat the base RFP as fixed submit against a document that no longer exists. This guide covers the Q&A period, amendments, acknowledgement and the discipline of tracking change.

6 min read

Reading the RFP

Government contracting glossary: 120 terms from 8(a) to WOSB

Government contracting has a vocabulary that assumes you already know it. This glossary defines the terms you will meet in solicitations, evaluations, capture meetings and debriefs, in plain English and with the regulation cited where it matters.

11 min read

Deciding

Capture planning before the RFP drops: customer calls, industry days and draft RFP comments

By the time an RFP is published, the shape of the requirement, the evaluation factors and often the winner have been influenced by the companies that showed up early. Capture is that early work. This guide explains what it is, what is allowed, and how a small team can do it well.

8 min read

Deciding

Bid or no-bid: a decision worksheet you can defend

Most losing proposals were lost at the bid decision, not in the writing. A disciplined bid/no-bid review, run within days of a solicitation dropping, keeps your team's hours for the pursuits you can actually win. This is the worksheet experienced capture managers use.

6 min read

Writing

How to write a federal proposal outline that follows Section L

The outline is the proposal's architecture. Get it right and every writer knows what to say, where, in how many pages, and against which evaluation factor. Get it wrong and the best content in the world ends up where the evaluator is not looking.

9 min read

Writing

Federal contract proposal template: the sections every bid needs

Every federal proposal is built from the same set of volumes, and every solicitation rearranges them a little. This template explains what each volume is for, what evaluators expect to find in it, and the order of operations that gets a compliant bid out of the door.

7 min read

Writing

Win themes and discriminators: how to write them and where they go

A win theme is the sentence an evaluator writes down as a strength. Most proposals have slogans instead: "customer-focused", "proven", "innovative". This guide gives a formula for themes that connect what the customer worries about to something only you can prove, and shows where they belong so evaluators actually meet them.

6 min read

Writing

How to write a technical approach evaluators score highest

The technical volume is where most of the score lives and where most proposals waste their pages restating the requirement. Evaluators are looking for something specific: evidence that you understand the work and a sound, feasible way of doing it. This guide shows how to write to that standard, section by section.

7 min read

Writing

Key personnel resumes and letters of commitment for federal proposals

Key personnel are the people the government is really buying. Evaluators check each resume against a list of minimum qualifications, and a single unqualified name can sink an otherwise strong proposal. This guide covers how to find the requirement, prove the match and commit the people.

9 min read

Writing

Past performance write-ups that score: recency, relevance and quality

Past performance is the one evaluation factor where the government checks your claims against its own records. Choose references that match the solicitation's definition of relevant, write each one so the evaluator can verify it, and manage the questionnaires like a deliverable.

6 min read

Writing

Using AI to write a government proposal: what the rules say

As of October 2026 we know of no FAR or DFARS clause that bans using AI to write a federal proposal or requires you to disclose it. What binds you is the solicitation in front of you, the accuracy of every statement you sign, and the handling rules for the data you put into an AI tool.

11 min read

Reviewing

Pink, Red and Gold Team reviews: what each one checks

Color team reviews are how experienced proposal teams catch problems while there is still time to fix them. Each review has one question to answer. Run them with the right people, against the solicitation, on a schedule set on day one, and the Red Team stops being the place where proposals get rewritten.

7 min read

Reviewing

The proposal submission checklist: the last 48 hours

Proposals are lost in the last 48 hours more often than anyone admits: a page over the limit, an unsigned form, a portal that rejects a file, a deadline in the wrong time zone. This checklist is the routine experienced proposal managers run so that the final two days are production, not panic.

6 min read

After submission

Federal debriefs under FAR 15.506: your rights and the clock

A debriefing is the only time the government will tell you, in its own words, why you won or lost. The right to one expires three days after you learn the result. Request it, prepare for it, and treat what you hear as the most valuable capture intelligence you will get all year.

8 min read

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