Past Performance: Your Most Important Competitive Advantage

Past performance is often the deciding factor in government contract awards. When price and technical approach are similar between competitors, an evaluator's confidence in your ability to execute is what tips the scale.

What Evaluators Look For

Government evaluators assess your past performance across several dimensions:

• Relevance — How similar was the prior work to this contract?
• Recency — Generally, work performed in the last 3–5 years counts most
• Quality — CPARS ratings, client references, on-time and on-budget delivery
• Complexity — Did you handle work of similar scope and scale?

What to Include

For each past performance entry, document:

• Contract number and agency
• Period of performance
• Contract value
• Scope of work (2–3 sentences)
• Your specific role (prime or sub)
• Relevant outcomes and metrics
• CPARS/client rating if available

Telling the Right Story

Don't just list facts — frame past performance narratives around the evaluation criteria in Section M. If Section M values "experience with cloud infrastructure," your past performance section should highlight cloud work prominently, not bury it.

GovRFP stores your past performance library and automatically pulls the most relevant entries into each AI-generated proposal draft based on the RFP's requirements.

Building Your Library Now

Even if you're not actively bidding, start documenting your past performance now. The best time to capture details is immediately after a contract ends, when memories are fresh and CPARS reports are recent.