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What is a Capabilities Statement?

A Capability Statement is a concise, one page document of your business competencies. Think of it as your business's resume. Its purpose is to provide specific information that will convince potential customers to do business with you. When written well, it will differentiate your business from the competition! (Source SBA.gov)

Many times contracting officers request contractors/vendors to provide a capability statements through their solicitations RFI’s, RFP’s, RFQ’s, Sources Sought etc. A Capability Statement is like a combination between a sales brochure and business resume. Capability statements are often requested by teaming partners and at vendor conferences or bid-matching events to see if your company could be a good fit.

Capability Statements contain the 6 critical elements to ensure it addresses what contracting officers, prime contractors, or teaming partners are looking for.  Expect to update your capability statement periodically when you’re responding to various solicitations like Sources Sought Notice, meetings with an agency representative or just attending an event with a strong Federal presence. The most common version of capability statement is a (1) pager...

The most requested types of capability statements are below.

There are several different types of capabilities statements requested by contracting officers or shared between prime & subcontractors.

1. Targeted Capability StatementUsually a (1) page capability statement, but for a targeted capability statement it could extend to 3 pages to address everything requested by the agency. This is the most effective Capability Statement you can craft; it is also the most time-consuming. This version will be different for just about every opportunity, because it will speak specifically to that opportunity, that agency, or that prime contractor.A capability statement is part of your marketing collateral to present your businesses as capable, effective, professional, and successful company for contracts you’re trying to win. It  can also be used as an introductory piece when reaching out to contracting officers, different agencies or prime contractors which provides your specific contact information and delivers a specific message about your company whether it’s a General or Specific Capability Statement.

 

2. General Capability StatementMost GCA Members and Clients who contact GCA to develop their Capability Statement are looking for a “General Capability Statement.” This is the most common Capability Statement that you could send to any agency or prime contractor at any time. We discuss this with your contractor marketing strategy. A General Capability Statement is not as effective as a Targeted Capability Statement when reaching out to specific Federal Agencies or Prime Contractors.If you know exactly who will be receiving your Capability Statement, the person or specific needs of an agency at GCA recommend a tailored or targeted approach to address their needs.

 

3. Combined Capability StatementThis is the second most requested version of a Capability Statement our team can develop which takes the best elements between a Prime Contractors and Subcontractors capability statements to address the requirements of the solicitation.

 

4. Sources Sought Capability StatementThe purpose of a Sources Sought Notice is to determine if there are two (2) or more capable Small Businesses that can perform the requirements of a planned contract. For this reason, it is vitally important for Small Businesses to respond to Sources Sought Notices with highly effective Capability Statements. We provide guidance or (DFY) in preparing this specific and effective type of Capability Statement.

 

The Capability Statements received by a contracting office in response to a Sources Sought Notice may lead to a Small Business set-aside if two (2) or more Small Businesses can be determined by the Government to be capable of performing the tasking. If a set aside is achieved, the huge benefit to Small Business is competition that is restricted to ONLY Small Businesses…

 

This Capability Statement doesn’t look anything like the other Capability Statements we have described previously.

In fact, the only thing it has in common with the other types of Capability Statements is the name. This is more of a “Strategy Paper” which can be a confusing for contractors because they’ve become so familiar with the typical Capability Statements used before to engage contracting officers & agencies.

FOR THE AGENCY:

The bottom line in making capabilities assessments is a determination by the Government’s technical reviewer(s) that a Small Business is either “capable” or “not capable” of performing the requirements of a solicitation. The information provided in this strategy paper is based on examples of types of possible shortcomings that might be cited by a Government technical reviewer. Keep in mind that

Government technical personnel have a very strong drive to meet and exceed their mission’s goals.

 

Contracting Officers & Agencies are Risk Averse

They want to reduce and/or eliminate all forms of risk – risk of delay, of cost overruns, of poor or only average performance of services or products provided by contractors, of poor or only average performance of their Government team as a result of contractor problems, of any kind of a stumble or failure in the pursuit of their mission. The overriding goal of your Capability Statement is therefore to overcome this natural aversion to risk. The technical reviewer will be making mental risk assessments at every point in his/her review process. Like a college professor, he or she will probably be underlining your “correct answers” and noting “deficiencies” (apparent lack of capability) in the margins of your Capability Statement.

 

“This type of Capability Statement shall succinctly address the following three items to demonstrate the contractor’s capability to perform the requirements of this Performance Work Statement:

 

(1) The contractor’s ability to manage, as prime contractor, the types and magnitude of tasking in the PWS; and

(2) The contractor’s technical ability, or potential approach to achieving technical ability, to perform at least 50% of the cost of the contracted task order incurred for personnel with its own employees; and

(3) The contractor’s capacity, or potential approach to achieving capacity, to conduct the requirements of the PWS. For the purposes of this Capability Statement, capacity shall refer to matters such as the magnitude of the tasking, the amount of equipment or facilities involved, and the size of the staff needed.

Demonstrated ability to manage, technical ability and capacity may include citing and describing the same or similar relevant performance, but does not limit the interested contractor’s approach to demonstrate capability.”

We provide training to help you build Powerful Capability Statements or our successful GovMedia Market Team can “Done For You”  (DFY) - Our team can create a powerful capability statement for you.