Incumbent Contractors: Never Assume Success When Re-Competing

here was a time when incumbent contractors had the luxury of assuming they would win a re-compete. This mindset was often founded upon the organic, year-over-year growth that had become common over the past 10 years.

Unfortunately, contractors no longer have the luxury of basing their business development strategies on assumptions. Just because a government contractor is an incumbent during the re-compete process, doesn’t guarantee the bid will be won.

When it comes to contractors winning during the rebidding process, the margin for error is fairly thin these days. As Dennis Lucey, Vice president at TKC Global, and retired Army officer Gary E. Shumaker, recently highlighted in a Washington Technology Op-Ed, incumbents lose 40 percent of the time.

With less opportunity and more competition, it is vital to be armed with all the key knowledge required to win a re-compete. Simply put, in this day and age, contractors need to know where they stand with government customers— and in regard to the competition—at all times.

As highlighted in Market Connections’ 2012 Government Contractor Study, the vast majority (96%) of contractors reported using some sort of research to better understand the federal marketplace. Moreover, the study showed that contractors with higher win rates are more likely to use outsourced customer satisfaction research (83%).

Read the full FedConnects post here.