No Generic Capability Statements

By Kiyon Brandford

A generic capability statement hurts your chances of being noticed by federal decision-makers. The federal marketplace is a large competitive space with thousands of companies trying to breakthrough and build relationships with the decision-makers responsible for awarding federal procurements. Federal decision-makers are tasked with researching and evaluating companies quickly to find the contractors that can perform the requirements they’re looking to purchase. The Capability Statement has become a fundamental tool for companies to communicate their company’s capabilities and capacity to procurement decision-makers within the government and other companies. It’s important to make your capability statement standout and one of the best ways to do that is to take a targeted approach for building custom capability statements.

The federal acquisition workforce has shrunk in recent years and placed a significant burden on those performing the government’s procurements. They review hundreds of capability statements, most of which aren’t memorable enough for them to follow-up. Instead of a generic capability statement that applies to all agencies and decision-makers, create a custom capability statement targeted to that specific decision-maker and the opportunities available at their agency. When creating marketing materials like capability statements, it’s important to remember who your audience is. Targeting your capability statements by agency lets decision-makers know you’ve already done the necessary research on their specific agency and upcoming opportunities where you can satisfy a need to help them reach their goals.

There are a number of strategies and techniques you can use to target your capability statement:

• Tailor your core competencies section with focused language from your targeted agency.
• Use differentiators to highlight why the decision-maker should choose your company to perform those specific tasks.
• Include past performance examples that are similar to the work you’d like to perform for that agency.

For more strategies and tactics for building a standout capability statement, contact TargetGov for our various Capability Statement support services. Email info@targetgov.com or call 866-579-1346.