The past is not prologue: Each competition is a new event and you cannot assume that “the usual suspects” will be your opponents. Whether you’re pursuing a new contract or re-competing to win an old one, scanning your competitive landscape is important. This is an oft-discussed challenge, as seen by this sampling of common quotes…
In July 2014, Attain was awarded a five-year, $50.2 million CIO-SP3 task order to provide bioinformatics and related support for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Cancer Institute (NCI). This task order was awarded as a small business set-aside and will end (assuming that there are no extensions) in July 2019. This means that…
In a previous blog posting, we discussed some of the key questions and priorities to keep in mind when qualifying (or disqualifying) a new lead as a real opportunity. Let’s expand on those basics, digging a little further into the What and How. When making pursuit decisions, knowledge is power. And so is consistency. New…
The Clinical Research Management System (CRMS) contract opportunity is a great opportunity for the small business contractors on the Chief Information Officer – Solutions and Partners 3 (CIO-SP3) IDIQ. The National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) should be looking to re-compete its CRMS contract late this spring. Currently,…
Cry ‘Havoc!’ and let slip the dogs of business development! Ah yes, we now have the first batch of CIO-SP3 small business on-ramps with the batch of 40+ SDVOSB awards. Congratulations to the winners! These awardees have a fantastic and versatile contract vehicle to leverage. But a win begs the question: What do you do…
This post is a follow-on from a previous blog on focusing a black hat review. If you’ve been doing the GOVCON business development thing for a while, you’re probably familiar with the black hat review. To be certain that we’re on the same page, we execute black hat reviews in order to: Evaluate competitor strengths…
If you’ve been doing the GOVCON business development thing for a while, you probably know what a “black hat review” is. Just in case we don’t have the same definition, though, we execute black hat reviews in order to: Evaluate competitor strengths and weaknesses specific to an opportunity; Anticipate competitor win strategies; and Build counters…
When we last blogged on ACES, we focused on the basics of what ACES is. No doubt you’ve spent quality time reviewing our blog and a plethora of USAID materials to either get smart on ACES or to simply revisit your long-lost friend of an opportunity (remember DRAGON? We do!). The intention of this blog…
This is the artist formerly known as Democratic, Responsive and Accountable Governance (DRAGON) which has been moving oh so very slowly for a number of years. Alas, USAID is getting closer to release it as a real RFP before FY2017 is over. For all of you that have been tracking, forgotten, tracking some more, and…
What is CIO-SP3? CIO-SP3 is a Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) in the truest sense of the term because it is. All too often we get confused about GWACs, GSA Schedules, etc. CIO-SP3 is the real deal. It can be utilized by any U.S. Government agency to purchase any IT service. Why do we care about…
