What belongs on a contractor capability statement page

Every federal contractor has a capability statement. Most of them are a PDF attached to an email six months ago. This is what the document is for, what belongs in it, and why it should be a page on your website first and a PDF second.

What it is for

A capability statement is a concise, usually one-page summary of your company's qualifications to perform government work. Contracting officers and small business specialists use it during market research; prime contractors use it to evaluate subcontractors; counselors at the APEX Accelerators (the former Procurement Technical Assistance Centers) use it to understand your company before they advise you.¹ HUD's guidance for small and disadvantaged businesses says the same thing in one line: it must be tailored to its audience, and projects unrelated to that buyer's needs can be left off.²

That audience is reading on a phone between meetings, or on a laptop with your SAM.gov record open in the next tab. The registration is required to pursue federal awards as a prime, it carries your Unique Entity ID, and it has to be renewed every 365 days.³ It also has a website field. When the website at that address has no capability page, the reviewer asks for the PDF, and the PDF is out of date.

The sections

The APEX Accelerator and HUD materials converge on the same structure. Use these headings, in this order, and keep each one short enough to read without scrolling on a phone.

1. Core competencies. The work you self-perform, in the words the solicitations use. Not "full-service construction"; rather "renovation of occupied healthcare facilities", "roof replacement on historic structures", "fire alarm and mass notification systems". Three to six lines.
2. Past performance. Three to six recent contracts, each with the agency and installation, the contract number, the value, the period of performance and one line on the scope. Every one of these is public on USAspending, so a reviewer can verify them in a minute. Lead with the agency the reader works for.
3. Differentiators. What is true of you and not of the next firm on the list: a bonding capacity, a safety record, a specific certification, a shop you own, a crew that has worked on that installation before. Facts, not adjectives.
4. Company data. Legal name as registered, UEI, CAGE code, primary and secondary NAICS codes, size status under those codes, set-aside status (SDVOSB, WOSB, 8(a), HUBZone) with the certifying body and date, bonding capacity per project and aggregate, state licenses and registrations, and the person to call with a direct number.
5. Contract vehicles. Any IDIQ, MATOC, SATOC, BPA or GSA schedule you hold, with the number and the ordering period. If you hold none, say what you are pursuing.

Why a page before a PDF

A web page is current the moment you edit it. A PDF is current the moment you export it and stale after the next award. A page is found by search; a PDF in an email is found by nobody. A page reads on a phone; a letter-sized PDF does not. And a page can link: the contract number to USAspending, the certification to the certifying body, the NAICS code to its definition. Build the page, keep it current, and generate the PDF from it when someone asks for a file. Then the two never disagree.

Mistakes we see every week

• A company name on the page that does not match the SAM.gov registration.
• Past performance with no contract numbers, or with photos and no values.
• A set-aside claim with no certifying body or date.
• A capability statement that lives only as a download link, behind a form, or as an image of a document that search engines cannot read.
• No phone number. A contracting officer with a question on a Friday afternoon calls the firm whose number is on the page.

A note on state and local buyers

School districts, counties and state agencies do not use the term, but they ask for the same content on their responsible-contractor forms: projects with owner, value and dates, references, bonding and safety. One capability page written in the federal format serves both audiences if you add a section for public owners and your cooperative purchasing contracts. We cover that in how public owners vet a contractor online.

If your capability statement is a PDF today, ask for the review. We will tell you what a contracting officer finds when they look for it.

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