# Go / no-go The checks that come before anyone writes a word, in order of how fast they kill a bid. --- ## Why this comes first Writing a response the organization is disqualified from is the most common and most expensive failure in this work. It costs an evening — often several — from a person who has very few of them, and the rejection arrives without ever being scored. **A fast, well-reasoned no is the product.** It is what makes 50 bids a week possible. The filter is the skill; the writing is the easy part. --- ## Check 1 — Eligibility Hard stops. Any single miss ends it. - **Entity type** — nonprofit, for-profit, government, educational, tribal. Read exactly which are named - **Registration status** — SAM.gov active and unexpired, UEI issued, state charity registration current - **Certification requirements** — is this set aside for 8(a), HUBZone, WOSB, SDVOSB, or small business - **Size standard** — under the threshold for the stated NAICS, by the stated measure - **Geography** — place of performance, service area, or state of incorporation limits - **Prior award status** — some programs exclude current or recent grantees **Read the eligibility section literally.** "Eligible applicants are units of local government" excludes the nonprofit that partners with one. Partnering is sometimes the answer, but it is a different bid with a different lead. --- ## Check 2 — Mandatory qualifications The requirements written with "shall," "must," or "will be required to." These are disqualifiers, not preferences. Common ones that end bids: - **Past performance thresholds** — "three contracts of similar scope within five years." No amount of good writing substitutes for the third contract - **Licensing** — state contractor license, professional licensure, program-specific certification - **Bonding** — bid, performance, and payment bond capacity at the stated amount - **Insurance** — coverage types and limits, sometimes with named-insured requirements - **Facility or personnel clearances** — long lead times, frequently fatal to a first-time bidder - **Staffing** — named key personnel with stated credentials, committed at stated percentages - **Accounting system** — a DCAA-adequate system for some cost-reimbursement work - **Match or cost share** — a hard cash requirement the organization has to actually have **Distinguish "must" from "should."** Evaluators are usually required to reject on a missed "must" and merely allowed to score down a missed "should." Getting this backwards either kills a winnable bid or wastes an evening on a dead one. --- ## Check 3 — Compliance mechanics Not disqualifying in themselves, but they decide whether the deadline is reachable. - **Submission deadline**, with the time zone, and how many working days remain - **Portal registration** — SAM.gov and several agency systems take days to weeks. This kills more finished proposals than anything else on the list - **Format constraints** — page limits, font and margin requirements, file format, file size - **Required forms and attachments**, and which need wet or electronic signatures - **Question deadline** — usually well before the submission deadline, and the only chance to resolve an ambiguity - **Pre-bid conference or site visit** — sometimes mandatory, and missing it disqualifies **Count backwards from the deadline.** Include signature routing, a partner's letter of support, and an audit copy someone has to find. A three-week window is not three weeks of writing time. --- ## Check 4 — Capacity to deliver The uncomfortable question: if this is won, can it actually be delivered. Staff availability, cash flow through a reimbursement-based award, the reporting burden against admin capacity, and geographic reach. **Winning something the organization cannot deliver is worse than losing it.** It damages past performance, which is the asset that wins everything after it, and for a small organization one bad performance record closes a lot of doors. --- ## Check 5 — Fit and odds Only reached if everything above passed. - **Incumbent** — is there one, and is the customer happy. A recompete against a satisfied incumbent is usually a no - **Scope alignment** — how much is core work versus a stretch - **Competition** — set-aside pools are smaller; open competitions can draw hundreds - **Cost to bid** — hours to prepare, honestly counted - **Award size against effort** — a USD 40k grant with a 60-page application and quarterly reporting may not be worth it **Weigh cost to bid against realistic probability.** Small organizations lose more to over-bidding than to under-bidding, because every evening spent on a 5% chance is an evening not spent on a 40% one. --- ## Writing the decision Both answers are short and both name the reason. **No-bid:** ``` NO-BID — Solicitation W912-26-R-0043, HVAC maintenance, Fort Whitfield Reason: mandatory past performance requires 3 federal contracts over USD 500k in 5 years. Okonkwo Mechanical has 1 (USD 310k, 2024). Hard disqualifier in Section L. Worth noting: this recompetes in 2029. Two more qualifying contracts by then makes it a real target. ``` **Go:** ``` GO — Riverbend adult literacy expansion, State DOE, due Sep 15 Eligible: 501(c)(3), in-state, current registrations. Mandatories: all met. Match is 10% in-kind, coverable with volunteer hours. Mechanics: 20 pages, portal registration active, questions due Aug 8. Capacity: 24 working days. Reimbursement basis — cash flow is the real risk. Odds: no incumbent, new program. Award USD 180k over 2 years. Recommend go. Flag: get the DOE portal password confirmed this week. ``` --- ## Recording it Every no-bid goes in the pipeline with its reason. Solicitations recur, and next year the decision takes ninety seconds instead of an evening. **Revisit a no-bid when the reason changes.** Past performance grows, certifications get issued, bonding capacity rises. A no-bid list reviewed once a year turns into a target list, which is the most useful thing this skill produces over time.