If you are trying to win more substantial federal contracts, you probably already know that it is not just about filling out paperwork. It is about positioning your company correctly before, during, and after the RFP.
We get the same questions over and over again from companies trying to break through. They want to know if they are doing the right things. They want to know where they are falling short. And in most cases, they are making the same preventable mistakes.
We sat down with Sarah Pagona, Head of Business Development at SAS-GPS, to go through the most common questions we hear from companies pursuing million-dollar-plus federal contracts. After helping clients win over $45 billion in government contracts, we have seen what works and what does not.
In our latest video, we walk through each of these questions in detail. Watch it here:
1. SAS-GPS Is Not a Government Contractor. We Are the Team Behind the Contractors That Win.
One of the first things people ask is whether SAS-GPS holds government contracts.
We do not. That is not our business model.
We are a proposal and capture strategy team that works behind the scenes for companies that win contracts. We help established contractors qualify for major contract vehicles, build capture strategy before RFPs drop, develop compliant and compelling proposals, structure pricing, navigate teaming, and protect past performance.
We are not in competition to win the government contracts ourselves. We are the support team that companies bring in when they are serious about winning.
2. Who Should Be Working With a Proposal Team (And Who Should Not)
Our clients typically fall into three categories. Growing small businesses that already have real past performance. Mid-tier integrators scaling into larger vehicles. And established primes competing for major programs.
If you do not have past performance yet, the first step is not a proposal. It is subcontracting, teaming, and capacity building. We mostly work with companies that are already strategically positioned to be competitive.
This is an important distinction. Throwing money at proposals when you do not have the foundation in place is one of the fastest ways to burn through your budget with nothing to show for it.
3. Why Companies Hire an External Proposal Team Instead of Writing Internally
Many firms seek government rfp help because their internal teams are focused on operations. We tend to function as your on-call proposal team.
When you bring in SAS-GPS, your internal team is not drowning in proposal deadlines. Your subject matter experts stay focused on their billable and operational work. Leadership is not pulled into formatting and compliance chaos. And when opportunities drop, you have a team ready, no matter what.
We bring industry-aligned subject matter specialists that match your contract and industry type. We have proven experience supporting complex federal, state, and local awards. And we provide transparent and predictable pricing with firm, fixed-pricing and not-to-exceed estimates. No budgeting surprises.
Learn more about our government proposal writing services.
4. How Our Pricing Works (And Why It Is Different)
Most of our work is priced per solicitation. Every RFP has different requirements. Volumes, page limits, graphics, complexity. We scope each project individually.
Here is how it works. You send us the solicitation number or link. We perform a feasibility review, including a quick compliance check and high-level probability of win assessment. We estimate our level of effort in hours. Then we provide a firm fixed not-to-exceed estimate.
If we tell you it is going to be 50 hours and there is no substantive change from the government, we hold to our estimate. If we go over, we do not charge you for those extra hours. That is our commitment.
We also do not take a percentage of your win. We do not track you down later for a cut. You keep all the money from your contract.
We are transparent. We are structured. If we do not think you can win something, we are going to tell you before you spend money on it.
5. What Happens After You Engage With Us
Once we are under contract, we move quickly and methodically.
We set up a secure workspace for collaboration and document control. We hold a formal kickoff call to align strategy, requirements, and timelines. We establish recurring working sessions with your team to extract technical content, clarify your approach, and keep everything on track.
Behind the scenes, we manage compliance tracking, drafting, writing, and reviews. By the end of the process, you receive a fully compliant submission-ready set of volumes that are formatted, finalized, and ready to deliver to your contracting officer.
You get to keep running your business. We run the proposal.
And yes, we handle multiple proposals at once. Last month, we had six going simultaneously for one company. If you are aggressive about growth, we are built for that pace.
6. What Makes SAS-GPS Different From Other Proposal Companies
Three things.
First, strategic positioning. We help shape how your solution is framed. We are not just translating what you say and putting it down with good grammar. We are subject-matter experts in proposal writing and the specific government language evaluators expect. We think strategically about every word we write. We are also writers with specific industry specialities, so we understand exactly what we are writing about.
Second, team structure. We work in proposal teams, not solo writers. Behind the scenes, we have quality control checks, graphic designers, and compliance reviewers. If something happens to one writer, another steps in immediately. Your proposal never stops. We have not missed a deadline in 25 years.
Third, pricing transparency. Our firm fixed not-to-exceed model means you are never going to get a surprise bill three days before your proposal is due. You know what you are getting when you start.
7. Improving Your Capture Management Services and Strategy Before the RFP Drops
You can build a lot of advantage before an RFP is even released. Once it drops, you have to hit the ground running. You do not have time for positioning at that point.
Some of the things we help with before solicitations release include reviewing forecasted opportunities and acquisition strategies, mapping your past performance to likely evaluation criteria, identifying scorecard gaps for vehicles and recompetes, assessing team and capacity needs early, evaluating contract type risk, reviewing pricing history and agency buying patterns, strengthening compliance posture, and helping you decide what not to pursue.
We also help companies build reusable internal infrastructure, including past performance write-ups, compliance frameworks, agency-aligned solution positioning, and executive summaries.
The goal is that, when the solicitation is released, there is no scramble. It is time to execute the plan. That is how companies that win consistently operate. They are refining something they have already prepared.
This is part of what we call opportunity pipeline development, and it is one of the most underused strategies in government contracting.
8. How We Help Build Competitive Teams
We help build competitive team structures when it makes strategic sense. We do not do random matchmaking. We help build teams intentionally based on scorecard gaps, past performance alignment, certification leverage, contract type requirements, work sharing strategies, risk exposure, and always increased probability of win.
If the team structure adds value, we can help formalize it and reflect it in your proposal. If it does not materially improve your competitiveness, we will let you know. Teaming should be intentional, not automatic.
If teaming is part of your growth strategy, take a look at our federal teaming support programs.
9. The Past Performance Catch-22 (And What to Do About It)
If you have zero past performance as a company and you have never done any business with the government, we are probably not the right starting point for you yet. You will get to us later.
The catch-22 in government contracting is real. You read the past performance requirements and they say you need three projects of similar size and scope completed in the last five years. But how do you get to three if you cannot get one?
The answer is strategic teaming, subcontracting, and partnering. That is the fastest and most reliable way to build your portfolio. Look for opportunities to get with companies that already have a track record and contribute to their projects. Build your CPARs. Strengthen your certifications. Improve your accounting maturity.
We get calls about this every single day. It is the most common question in government contracting, and the answer is almost always the same: build your foundation first, then come to us when you are ready to compete at a higher level.
10. The Biggest Mistake Companies Make in Government Contracting
There are a lot of people who want to bid on everything. They wait until the solicitation drops to think strategically about it. They have eight million balls in the air, and strategy gets lost.
Winning federal work is not necessarily about volume. It is about being selective, being compliant, and executing with discipline. Proposals cost money. They cost time. Even if you did not hire an external team, there is a tremendous time lift involved.
Avoid investing significant time and resources in opportunities with a low probability of success.
Calculate your probability of win. If it is near zero, walk away.
The second biggest mistake is turning in non-compliant proposals. That gets you eliminated before your solution is ever evaluated. It does not matter how good your approach is if the submission does not meet requirements.
11. Can AI Write a Government Proposal?
We get this question constantly. The short answer is no. Not a winning one.
AI is useful as a cleanup tool. It can serve as a second set of eyes on compliance. It can help with grammar and spelling. You can train it to do certain tasks. We use it ourselves for some compliance checks and matrix setup.
But AI should not make decisions on your proposal. It does a very good job of mimicking human language and always acting like it knows what it is talking about. It gives you positive feedback. It tells you your response is great. But if you really look at the output, a lot of it is generic, or completely wrong, while still reading really well.
If you think you are going to hand AI a solicitation and your website and get a fully compliant, compelling, winning proposal back, that is not happening. A proposal is a legal contract. If AI hallucinates something you do not actually do and you submit it, you are now contractually obligated to deliver it.
We have looked at many AI platforms built specifically for proposal writing. On the capture end, there is some useful functionality. On the writing end, none of it is impressive. It is just a new interface on the same general AI tools.
AI is only as effective as the instructions it receives. Without the insight of an experienced proposal writer who understands this space deeply, even a well-intended prompt can lead to a submission that falls short or is rejected.
Use AI for what it is useful for. Do not use it as a replacement for your internal or external proposal team.
The Bottom Line
Winning million-dollar-plus government contracts requires scoring correctly, structuring your opportunity pipeline, pricing intelligently, and protecting compliance. Every single one of those things matters.
We do this every day. It is not outsourced. It is real writers, real strategists, and a real team at SAS-GPS working side by side with our clients to win.
If you are serious about winning federal contracts and want to see whether we are the right fit, reach out. We will tell you honestly whether we can help or whether you need to build more foundation first.
Contact SAS-GPS to start the conversation.
