Winning government work does not begin with a proposal. It begins with a readiness posture, the set of registrations, classifications, documentation, and capability positioning that make an organization credible before an opportunity is ever released. This checklist covers the pre-award posture we consider table stakes.
Registrations & identifiers
- SAM.gov registration is active, current, and reviewed at least quarterly.
- UEI is issued and referenced consistently across capability statements and marketing.
- Primary and secondary NAICS codes are chosen deliberately, not inherited from a template.
- SBA size standards for each NAICS have been reviewed against current revenue and employee counts.
Set-aside and certification eligibility
- 8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB, WOSB, and VOSB eligibility has been assessed against current ownership and operations.
- Certifications actively pursued are tracked with a documented owner and target date.
- Certification supporting documents (financials, ownership, addresses, veteran status) are current and centrally stored.
Compliance posture
- FAR/DFARS familiarity for the relevant contract vehicles is documented, not assumed.
- Cybersecurity posture (NIST SP 800-171, CMMC where applicable) has been baselined honestly.
- Financial and accounting systems can support cost accounting if required (DCAA-adjacent readiness).
- Insurance limits and coverage match the ceilings on the vehicles being pursued.
Capability positioning
- Capability statement is one page, current, tailored to the NAICS being targeted, and free of generic marketing language.
- Past performance is documented with contract number, agency, POP, and a concise outcome statement, even for commercial work.
- Teaming posture is decided: prime, sub, joint venture, mentor-protégé, and the target partners have been identified.
- A written capture cadence exists: what agencies, what vehicles, what timelines, and who owns each opportunity.
How to use this checklist
This is a diagnostic, not a scorecard. If more than a third of these items are ambiguous, the organization is not yet ready to price aggressively into federal work, and the shortest path to competitiveness is closing those gaps, not writing another proposal.
