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Two industry veterans on what companies should try to learn at the debriefing after losing a contract bid

Small businesses with big aspirations often look to government for sales opportunities, but the size of that government-sales undertaking can be overwhelming.

Yes, smaller jobs may be sold to government through a simple purchase order, but true success in getting government business takes more. To become established as a trusted government contractor, your company must be prepared for a resource-intensive process that might take as long as two years. The commitment is big, but the successes can be even bigger.

Win or lose, you are entitled to receive a debriefing from the government to help you understand the basis for an award decision. You must request your debriefing in writing within three days after receiving notification of contract award, otherwise your request might be declined.

Independent reviews ensure that proposals are compliant and responsive to the request for proposals. They also guarantee that proposals are feature-rich and technically and politically sound. Reviews should begin early in the proposal process and continue throughout proposal development. Each review builds quality into the proposal. When done well, reviews raise your competitiveness and increase your win probability.

The victory celebration is almost over, and people are starting to say it’s time to get to work on the new contract. All the parties involved have raised their glasses and toasted to the many contributions made by all the players: the business development, capture and proposal teams. All players deserve a share of the glory that accrues to the winner, and yet there is this nagging feeling that we should put away the champagne glasses and begin preparing to perform the newly awarded contract. For the next five years, it is the operations team that has to carry the ball and fulfill all the promises we made in our proposal.