KPIs to Help Government Contractors Streamline Their Sales Process

Government contractors navigate an inherently complicated capture process. The challenge of navigating the unique customer landscape in tandem with organizational hurdles throughout the opportunity lifecycle makes clear standards and metrics imperative. With pursuit timelines that regularly stretch across years, capture organizations need to focus on milestones to gauge how effective their capture efforts truly are. That’s where key performance indicators (KPI) come in.

The right KPIs give you the information you need to identify the right opportunities, quickly discern whether an opportunity is staying on track with goals, and align the right resources to the proposal when the time comes. Which KPIs are best for government contractors working to improve their capture process?

Four KPIs That Define the Efficiency of Your Capture Process

Lack of a clear direction is one of the worst things for a capture organization. The company’s strategic goals should act as a guidepost to refining tactical focus within business units. Understanding which KPIs have the biggest impact on optimizing capture efforts can help you surface deals that can be won more quickly. This understanding can also help you prioritize your business development and capture support resources. Below are four KPIs every government contractor should measure:

• New vs. recompete: Expansion into new agencies using existing products or services continues to be part of future key growth strategies for GovCon. The number of net new opportunities compared to recompete pursuits must reflect this focus. A pipeline with a lack of diversity is not positioned for long-term success.
• Resource allocation improvement: Strong capture organizations are analyzing their effective use rate much the same way program resources are measured. Without the ability to assign and manage support resources within your capture organization effectively a sub-par proposal jeopardizes the capture investment already made.
• Price-To-Win: If your target opportunity is with a new agency, bringing your PTW resource in early is critical. Even when focused on a familiar market, the iterative effort to model the competitions’ solution, forecast their bid prices, and assess how they will likely score on non-price items should not be pro forma. Use information gathered at debrief meetings with the customer to analyze how effective your PTW position was – win or lose.
• Task Order win rates on IDIQs: It’s not uncommon for organizations to spend millions in pursuit of an IDIQ award only to let the Task Order requests languish unanswered. Part of the capture plan on an IDIQ should include the number of Task Order responses the organization will target year over year for the entire period of performance. Check in quarterly on TO response and win rates.

KPIs Help You Keep Track of Alignment with Strategic Goals

Government contractors can reduce risk and uncertainty when tactical execution is tied to the overarching strategy of the organization. The right KPIs reveal whether your business development and capture process contributes to or detracts from the strength of that vision. By studying KPIs, organizations ensure all capture activities are contributing toward an increasing win rate.

Tracking the right KPIs in one place for easy analysis seems to be a challenge in many organizations. A secure CRM purpose-built for government contractors, like BidWin from Avtex, can help you quickly find relevant information, whether on your laptop, with a tablet or from your mobile device.