Can you win a government contract when you are bidding against an incumbent that has been entrenched with an agency for many years? The answer is a qualified yes. It is possible to unseat an incumbent in the federal marketplace if you submit the right type of proposal. The bottom…
Category: Competition
Identifying Your Competitors: How Wide Should You Cast Your Net?
Winning government contracts requires a lot of preparation. Would-be contractors spend hundreds of hours developing capture strategies and crafting compelling proposals, as well as (hopefully)…
Evaluating Your Competitors’ Capabilities: Where to Start?
It goes without saying that winning government contracts requires a thorough and intimate understanding of the customer’s wants and needs. In positioning to win, however,…
Understanding the Requirements: How to Earn a Winning Edge
It may seem rather obvious that the first step in competing for a federal contract would be to try to understand what the customer is…
Price To Win: Know When to Hold ‘em and When to Fold ‘em
In today’s federal marketplace, anyone can compete for business. And anyone can win—at least some of the time. It’s the possible losses, however, that can…
SWOT to Strategy
Many companies include the SWOT chart as part of a competitive intelligence presentation. They spend a lot of time preparing the strengths and weaknesses, opportunities…
The Rise of the Dark Horse
Increasingly, during Richter & Company’s pricing assignments, a “Dark Horse” or “Notional Bidder” is named as a target for analysis. As the federal marketplace becomes…
Ghosting the Competition
In the world of competition, be it football games or proposals, every competitor's strategies boil down to the same thing. Follow the rules. Know the people that are buying into the competition. Demonstrate your strengths. Uncover and utilize your opponents' weaknesses. Win the game.
“Incumbentitis”
Many incumbent contractors believe they can't lose the recompete of "their contract." They've held the contract for years. They have good people. The end users…
Analyzing Through “The Spin” in Competitive Analysis
The world of Competitive Analysis is often like watching the Discovery Channel. Every company “spins” themselves to the tune of a primate puffing his chest…
