Writing Excellent Past Perfomance Narratives

Most government solicitations which require a proposal will contain a requirement for you to indicate your past performance. 

The government will require you to demonstrate your Past Performance and Experience in successfully completing (performing) similar projects in size and complexity to the tasks required by the solicitation. Ideally, you should be able to provide a list of satisfactory completion of similar projects in size and complexity or providing similar services to government agencies or companies of similar size and/or characteristics. You want to relate to the government just how your company has performed in tasks as close as possible to the tasks described in the solicitation

If you think your past performance is “spot on” toward fulfilling what the government is looking for in the solicitation you are addressing, there is a very dramatic way in which you can do this which will endear you to the government evaluator’s eyes.  One method is to prepare a table which demonstrates this performance directly related to the major tasks identified in the solicitation’s Section C; either the Performance Work Statement (PWS) or the Statement of Work (SOW), depending on the Request for Proposal   There is as two step process you can follow to dramatically illustrate your past performance.  You can start out with a summary narrative which explains your company’s past performance in the best possible light. 

Next you create a table which illustrates the various performance factors from Section C of the Solicitation and then show how each of your referenced contracts have fulfilled each factor .  I have included a detailed example in my recent book but here is a simple example of how that might look.  Down the left hand column of the table, you list the major performance factors from Section C of the Solicitation.  Across the top you can list your representative contracts.  At each of the intersecting points you can indicate with a check mark or a “yes” or “N/A” if the listed contract contains performance and/or experience relative to the major performance area on the left.  In addition, you can indicate whether your listed Past Performance contract is Highly Relevant  or Relevant to the solicitation at hand.

This chart will then give the government evaluator an overview view of your past performance and experience and makes his/her job easier. 

Example of one way you can depict your Past Performance at a Glance

Factor	Contract Number 1	Contract Number 2	Contract Number 3
PWS Para 2.1 – Manufacture widgets	Yes/ HR*	Yes/HR	N/A
PWS 3.1 – Test widgets	Yes/ HR*	Yes/HR	Yes/R
PWS 4.1 Maintain widgets	Yes/ HR*	Yes/HR	Yes/HR
PWS 5.1 Quality Assurance/Quality Control Training	Yes/ HR*	Yes/HR	Yes/HR
PWS 6.1 Training	Yes/ HR*	Yes/HR	Yes/HR

“HR” = Highly Relevant to Solicitation; “R” = Relevant to solicitation

You can then discuss each past contract in detail as that contract relates to the requirements of the solicitation you are trying to win. That will provide you with the opportunity to sing your praises for each of the individual contracts you have selected for Past Performance review.

Remember, the easier you make it for the government evaluator, the better impression of your company the evaluator will have.