The federal Go/No-Go decision: what to check before you bid

A federal bid costs real money to chase. Reading the solicitation, pricing the work, chasing subcontractor quotes and writing the narrative absorb days of the most expensive time in the company. Chasing the wrong opportunities is the fastest way to lose a year.

Kill it fast: four checks that take a minute

Run these before anything else. Each can end the conversation on its own, and none requires opening the specifications.

1. Set-aside eligibility

If the work is set aside for 8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB, WOSB or a size standard you do not meet, you are not bidding it. Note that being small is measured against the NAICS code on that solicitation, and the standard varies by code — small on one is not small on all. A partial set-aside may still leave an unrestricted portion.

2. NAICS and PSC codes

The NAICS code tells you what the agency thinks it is buying. A mismatch usually means the scope contains something you are not set up for: a “construction” job that is mostly abatement, or a renovation that is really a systems replacement.

3. Time remaining

Count working days, then subtract site visit, subcontractor quotes back, pricing, narrative, review and a submission buffer. Three weeks is tight for federal construction. A rushed bid costs the same money and teaches the agency your pricing is unreliable.

4. Distance and geography

Distance drives mobilisation, supervision, per-diem, and whether you have subcontractor coverage. A job 400 miles out is a different business than one 40 miles out at identical scope.

Then capacity

5. Bonding capacity

Two questions: can you bond it, and what does bonding it do to the capacity you have left? A contract that consumes most of your aggregate limit may lock you out of two better opportunities next month.

6. Project magnitude

Compare the value against the largest job you have delivered. A contract several times your record is visible in your past-performance record whether or not you mention it. Far below your normal size may not carry your overhead.

7. Contract type

Firm-fixed-price, IDIQ, cost-reimbursement and T&M are different risk and cash-flow profiles. An IDIQ with a small guaranteed minimum is a business-development expense that may never convert.

8. Capability match

Read the scope against what you self-perform versus sub out. A bid where you self-perform very little has thin margin and weak control. Nothing wrong with brokering work — price it as brokering.

Then the competitive read

9. Past performance relevance

Not “have we done work” but “have we done this work, at this size, for this kind of client, recently enough to cite”. Three similar projects in three years is strong; one loose comparable from six years ago is not.

10. Agency relationship

An incumbent with good CPARS is hard to displace. Look at who holds it, when the period of performance ends, and whether the requirement has genuinely changed.

11. Preferred state and market

States where you hold licences, have subcontractor relationships and know the labour market are cheaper for you to work in. That is a real advantage and should push a marginal opportunity to GO.

12. The documents themselves

Last, because it is the most expensive: read the terms. Uncapped liquidated damages, unpriced allowances, missing schedules, an onerous flow-down. Any one can turn a profitable-looking job into a loss. Where scope is genuinely ambiguous, ask — and if the answer does not arrive before the deadline, that is information too.

Score it rather than argue about it

A framework turns an argument into a comparison. Weight the criteria from your own win history, set the weights once, and stop re-litigating them per bid. Three bands are enough:

• GO — bid it, and staff it properly.
• REVIEW — name what needs answering, give it a deadline, decide when it comes back.
• NO-GO — pass, and write down why.

That last part gets skipped most often. A recorded no-bid reason tells you what to fix, and six months later tells you whether it still applies.

The mistake underneath most bad calls

Almost every bad decision comes from making it after the work has started. Someone reads the solicitation, gets interested, starts pricing — and by the time anyone asks whether the company should bid, two days are spent and nobody wants to have wasted them. Run the four fast checks before anyone touches the estimate.