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Self-scoring bids have earned a prominent place in government contracting in the last few years. Government Wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs) and Multiple Award Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantities (IDIQs) alike, including GSA’s Polaris, ASTRO, OASIS+, and Alliant 3, as well as DHS’ Program Management, Administrative, Clerical, and Technical Services (PACTS) III and NIH’s CIO-SP4 all used a scorecard evaluation. Whether you love them for their transparency or hate them for their complexity, we recommend learning how to navigate them – here’s why.

Scorecards are the planned evaluation methodology for upcoming contracts such as the Advancing Artificial Intelligence Multiple Award Contract (AAMAC) (draft here) and the U.S. Army Marketplace for the Acquisition of Professional Services (MAPS) (draft here). With the recent Executive Order consolidating procurements under GSA, it’s possible that we may see even more scorecards in the acquisition marketplace.

If you’re already a seasoned professional – that’s great! If you have plans to pursue these opportunities but aren’t sure where to start, then you are in the right place. We are building a library of resources to help you navigate the world of scorecard bids (check out our recent webinar here, where we walked through understanding scorecard-based evaluations). In this blog, we’ll walk through factors to consider when deciding whether to bid on a self-scoring proposal so that you can make an informed bid/no-bid decision.

What are self-scoring proposals?

Self-scoring proposals use scorecards to create a (mostly) straightforward evaluation process. Instead of assigning a proposal an adjectival rating based on narrative volumes and figuring out who is offering the “best value,” most scorecards feature a point or credit system that allows offerors to calculate their numerical score based on experience, certifications, and other factors such as clearances, customer diversity, etc. The offeror does the heavy lifting here – it is your responsibility to gather documentation to support your score. The good news is that while they may still be labor intensive (you’d be surprised how challenging it can be to aggregate the correct documentation), the overall structure of these bids eliminates bias. This allows the Government to objectively narrow the potential awardee pool based on evidence using scorecard points and supporting documentation.

Scorecards sometimes include a minimum threshold for qualification – i.e., they will establish a minimum number of points you need in order to receive a contract award. Making a bid/no-bid decision can be very straightforward in these cases. But sometimes, a “winning” score is determined by how well you score compared to your competition, and there may be limited seats for the taking. Sure, you can still calculate a probable score, but how do you know when your score is actually good enough to win?

We’re going to be candid about the “bad” news here: on a scorecard without an established minimum threshold, unless you earn a perfect score, you’re never really going to have complete and utter confidence that you will definitely win* a seat on the contract. (*And even that confidence is contingent on the evaluators validating your score and coming up with the same total you did).

Does that mean you shouldn’t bid unless you have a perfect score? The “good” news is absolutely not! You need to stay focused on what’s within your control so that you don’t waste time and resources.

What should I take into consideration?

You have to assume every offeror will be trying to get a perfect score and that some offerors will probably succeed. That sounds obvious, but knowing that “perfect” is attainable for some companies will help keep you grounded in reality and unemotional if you have to abandon the bid. Aiming for perfection might also help you understand more about what the ideal winner looks like and think through the hacks or loopholes that would help a company achieve a perfect score. Said another way, are there any “score multipliers” built into the scorecard that might help you earn more points? (Joint Ventures are an avenue that immediately comes to mind…)

Ok – now that you’re in the right headspace – what’s next?

You know we love a good checklist! Here are three constructive actions you can take to bid (or not bid) on a scorecard proposal – with or without an established minimum threshold -- with confidence. (Be sure to download our free checklist, How to Validate an Opportunity, here)

1. Assess your company’s capabilities.

First and foremost, does the planned contract work align with your company’s expertise? Yes, contract vehicles can be a great way to grow your business portfolio and increase your client base. However, if the contract isn’t designed to procure the services you offer (or could realistically deliver) and/or serve the agencies you want as clients, it may not be worth pursuing.

There’s a part two to this: does your company have available staffing and financial resources to pursue the opportunity and manage it after the award? Some of the recent bids (Polaris, OASIS+, CIO SP4) experienced significant, months-long interruptions (like strategic pauses) or have been trying to clear protests for as long as they’ve been in existence. So, have you prepared for a sprint or a marathon? Consider this – minimum participation requirements (some of which are administrative and some of which are tied to task order awards) are a favorite method of contracting officers to keep the award pool both engaged and fresh. You don’t have to no-bid if you aren’t ready today to manage the actual IDIQ, steer business to the vehicle, and bid on a LOT of task orders, but you probably need to start thinking about what investments you’ll need to make or how you’ll need to scale.

2. Understand the self-scoring process for the proposal and the proposal history.

Does the proposal require a minimum number of points to qualify or are contracts awarded to a percentage of the highest scores? How many awardees will be awarded? Is the contract vehicle a recompete? If so, who are the previous awardees? Basically, you need to know what you’re up against so you can figure out whether you have any realistic avenues to increase your score.

Specifically, you should think about things like:

• How are the points distributed, and is anything weighted? Said another way, are there some factors that would be worth more time and effort to focus on?
• Are there tools or systems that your company can implement before the proposal is released to increase your score? If you’re *just about* to wrap up that ISO 9001 audit, is now the time to buckle down and get it done?

Be sure to review the solicitation documents to identify any potential risks or unfair advantages. We’ve seen draft solicitations and industry days for all of the procurements mentioned in this blog. These are your opportunities to ask questions and help the contracting officers think through unintended consequences.

You should also assess teaming options (if the solicitation permits submitting teammate resources). Can you use a teammate’s project for points? Are there penalties for doing that

3. Determine your risk tolerance.

We’d love to tell you that if you do a little math (“crunch the numbers!”), you’ll get a clear answer about whether or not to bid. But the truth is, many offerors will end up with a score somewhere between “Hey - this looks pretty good!” and “Never mind, we definitely don’t have a shot.” Given that none of us have a crystal ball, we think knowing “when to hold ‘em” (i.e., we will bid if we can get to a score of XX points, for the optimists) or “when to fold ‘em” (i.e., we won’t bid if our score is below XX points) is a better approach. Those thresholds are going to come down to your (or your CEO’s) comfort level with the imprecise probability of an unsuccessful bid. And remember, consulting firms can do a lot of research around “winning score zones” (we LOVE data!), and you can take those ranges into account. However, because you’re being graded against the competition, there will always be some measure of the unknown and unpredictable (i.e., RISK) tied up in that analysis.

For what it’s worth, the “unknown” isn’t all bad, though, and can sometimes work to your advantage. For example, you don’t know how well your direct competitors are going to read the instructions and how meticulous they’re going to be in documenting their evidence -- a minor error in understanding or paperwork can cause huge ripples on these proposals because they are SO rooted in binary compliance factors. Now, we’d never recommend pinning the success of your bid on the mistakes of others. Still, statistically speaking, in a pool of hundreds or thousands (as these scorecard bids often draw), there will be a few companies who are disqualified because they didn’t read and follow the directions.

In that vein, it’s extremely important to validate your calculated score. If you’re serious about bidding, why would you not invest in making sure you were as prepared as possible? Similarly, why would you walk away from a multi-million dollar opportunity without being sure it could not succeed? Get in touch with a neutral third party (like Trident) who can confirm your score and help you address any gaps that might exist.

Ok – anything else I need to know?

So glad you asked! There are three common challenges to be aware of that could impact your ability to gain the most points: preparation, organization, and compliance. Many of these challenges can be avoided by keeping these things in mind:

1. Start your preparation sooner rather than later. You can make your job easier when you execute tasks in advance (likely during the draft RFP stage). If you wait until the final RFP release to prepare your proposal response, you are putting your team at a disadvantage. Although it’s not impossible to compile everything in time for submission, it could be more challenging than it needs to be, and things will feel much more reactive and tumultuous when there’s an amendment. Working ahead of the final RFP gives your team more time to collect supporting documentation, address risks or gaps, increase your initial score prior to submission, and understand what flexibility you have as the solicitations evolve (because, trust us, they WILL evolve).
2. Organization is the key to success. Remember that for many scorecard proposals, you can only earn points for what you can prove: you need evidence. Does your company have supporting documentation readily available, and is it easily accessible? Are your contract mods all signed? Are your invoices up to date? Do you know who to ask for what information? Being organized enables your team to pull all the necessary information efficiently to obtain the highest score possible.
3. Ensure compliance with solicitation requirements. Use the evaluation criteria as a guide for collecting documentation to compose your proposal response. Make sure you use Government-provided templates where applicable.

Get Started

Self-scoring proposals can be labor intensive. However, you can be prepared before the final RFP is released with the right preparation, organization, and strategy. From assessing your capabilities and understanding the scoring criteria to compiling documentation, there are steps you can take to prepare for each scorecard-based bid. Consider bringing in a third party to conduct your scorecard check (we love compliance checks!) or review all your required paperwork so that you’re putting your best bid forward. Contact Trident today and let us help you validate your score, close gaps, and build a compelling and compliant proposal.

Looking for more? Have you read our blog, 4 Ways to Tell a Bid Isn't For You? Check it out!

Written by Jen Concannon

Jen is a capture and proposal manager at Trident. Her skills include proposal support and technical editing and formatting. She is also a licensed program management professional (PMP). As a military spouse based on the East Coast, she supports clients around the world as part of our globally dispersed team.