As a bid manager you will know that each bid will get a score based on the requirements in the RFQ or RFP which is changing over time and very rarely scores the same as the last bid you submitted. Some bids have a solution or methodology as the most important aspect, while others focus more on price. However, all professional services bids of a certain size do require some sort of past performance record to be submitted as a part of the RFQ or RFP. This could come in many forms, including a CV, or resume as well as separate written case studies, reference projects or past performances in Word, PDF, Powerpoint or Excel.
For a federal bid, past performances is often a key part of the bid, and a past performance should (read: Must) include:
- Client name
- Project name
- Value
- Key deliverables
In addition you should keep relevant information such as
- Duration
- Industry
- Project Type
- Contact information
- Challenges
- Methodology
- Solutions
- Project owner
- Images
- Customer description
These values should also be up-to-date, searchable and filterable in the library of past performances. The information should also be the same in all CVs or resumes associated with the project.
Here is an example of some of the fields and how a past performance can look like in Flowcase:
Formatting and presenting your past performance
The formatting should be done according to the standard, and match the requirements of the tenderer. The format requirements often change for each bid. With Flowcase you can separate the content in your past performances from the layout of the templates used, allowing you to focus on the content rather than the formatting of the document. The Flowcaese system will ensure that it complies with the formatting you need, no need to copy paste or manually format data.
When tailoring the past performance, make sure you “tie back” to the original pain points of the bid, answering why this past performance is relevant for the current bids. Often it is either one or more common denominators such as similar challenge, similar industry, relevant technologies used etc. In Flowcase you can quickly get this overview by searching for relevant industries, skills or other content.
If you are submitting 3 or more past performances, make sure you summarize in a table form, this could be done in Flowcase by having a separate template that exports the key information about the project in a table form. An example of this could be a simple table with client name, project name, duration, project type, industry and short summary, and then you can also provide the longer form full past performances as a word or pdf.
Linking CVs, resumes and past performances
When writing a past performance in Flowcase you are also doing your colleagues working on the project a favor, they will get the project in their resume without having to add the data manually.
Tracking the life cycle of the past performance
Flowcase can facilitate the life cycle of a past performance this way
1. Having a secure and user friendly place to keep the past performance data
2. Making all data searchable and filterable, as well as having a life cycle ensuring you capture the data
3. Easily creating tailored versions of the past performance
4. Exporting them in the right template, that matches the requirements
5. Ensure that CVs, resumes and past performances are synchronized and quality data is used
Bonus tip
For US professional services firms wanting to win more bids or proposals with the US government, having past performance records and collecting the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) score is relevant. More information here: (CPARS)
