Teaming for Success on Government Contracts

Small businesses we support often struggle with building a good, solid team for an upcoming solicitation. This often generates good professional dialogue and more times than not, a bit of angst with the Capture Managers and Company leadership. Often times, it can become a major science project when it should really be a lot easier than we make it. I would like to share a few techniques you can use to make teaming easier and result in a team with a higher probability of win (PWin).

Why Team?

Bringing on teammates for an upcoming proposal may be desirable from a government viewpoint as well as for your organization. Requirements that were once performed under multiple contracts might now be performed under only one as the Government seeks to increase the efficiency of its buying efforts and reduce management burdens. Consequently, as we all know, this can make it a shrinking market with less opportunity even if budgets were not declining. Thus, teaming makes even more sense for companies seeking the near term win and looking for opportunity to open doors to new customers.

Not surprisingly, teaming is becoming more prevalent, especially among companies offering services to government. For many companies–often too small to win or perform large contracts alone–teaming has become an integral part of the strategy. A successful prime/subcontractor relationship is as productive as a successful contractor/government relationship, and it can be a great way to break into a new market.

The Government Expects Industry to Form Teams.

The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) defines teaming and recognizes that it may be the best way to satisfy and Government requirement. The following is drawn directly from the FAR:

FAR Subpart 9.6: Contractor Team Arrangements defines the term “Team Arrangement” (i.e., teaming) to mean: “(1) Two or more companies form a partnership or joint venture to act as a potential prime contractor; or (2) A potential prime contractor agrees with one or more other companies to have them act as its subcontractors under a specified Government contract or acquisition program.”

Subpart 9.6 goes on to say: “Contractor team arrangements may be desirable from both a Government and industry standpoint in order to enable the companies involved to complement each other’s unique capabilities; and offer the Government the best combination of performance, cost, and delivery for the system or product being acquired.”

How to Get Started with Teaming.

A simple approach for building a win-win teaming relationship is to understand your core competencies and determine where the gaps are in comparison to what the government is asking for. Review the teammates you are working with now, those in the past that worked well with you as a prime, contributed to the solution development efforts, and will meet your target rates. Make sure the potential teammate has relevant past performance, if that is part of the evaluation criteria, and a solid reputation. It helps the process to put a Non-Disclosure Agreement in place as soon as possible so the dialogue can start early.

Enter into a direct dialogue about the teaming agreement and candidly and explicitly let them know what you expect from proposal contribution, past performance and pricing (target rates). Other important considerations include: Will you require them to be exclusive? Are their CPARS rating positive on similar work? How deep is their experience with this kind of work? How well do they know this customer and their unique characteristics?

In conclusion, it is imperative to be objective about teaming and build your team based on these factors, not just because you like them. While I am a believer in the power of business relationships, winning Government contracts is about demonstrating you can fulfill the requirement via your proposal and then proving you (the team) have both the experience and past performance to get the job done. Seldom can small businesses meet all the solicitation requirements as one company so start planning to build the team for a win–win as soon as you identify the requirement you want to pursue.