What is a Capabilities Statement and why should I have one?

Clients of the Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center (GTPAC) often ask about how to best present themselves to government officials, particularly contracting officers and small business specialists.  GTPAC Procurement Counselors — most former contracting officers themselves — consistently advise that there are four key ingredients to making a favorable impression within the government marketplace:

1. Familiarizing yourself with the particular agency you are targeting,
2. Being prepared to deliver a concise “elevator speech” (a 30-second description of your expertise),
3. Presenting a business card which displays your CAGE, NAICS, and NIGP codes, and
4. Having a “Capabilities Statement.”

While the first three ingredients are fairly straightforward, here’s what’s important to understand about creating a Capabilities Statement for your business.

A Capabilities Statement should contain particular information and be organized in a certain way for use in the government sector.

For instance, a Capabilities Statement should always identify the company’s CAGE code.  The reason for this is that a company has a CAGE code only if it’s registered in Central Contractor Registration (CCR), the federal government’s vendor database.  Showing your CAGE code is important because that way contracting officials know you are oriented to the government sector (if you weren’t, you wouldn’t know you have to register in CCR) and are properly registered (federal agencies can’t do business with you unless you’re listed in CCR).

Identifying your PSC/FSC and NAICS codes is important, too, because that means you know what they are and their significance.  (There are such codes for every product and service, and government agencies specify their contract opportunities using these codes.)

Similarly, if you are marketing to state and local governments, you should show your NIGP codes in your capabilities statement, because state and local governments use NIGP codes (instead of PSC/FSC or NAICS codes).

Providing point-of-contact information for the references you list is important, too, in case a government official wants to make a call or send an email to one of them.  Each reference should also describe the type of work you performed or the products you delivered.

Over a period of time, you’ll want to develop several different versions of your capabilities statement, each tailored to a particular government sector audience.  This is just like tailoring a personal resume when applying for a particular job.  You want your past work descriptions to match-up with the contracting needs of the agency to which you’re marketing.  Small Business Specialists withing government agencies use this information to decide whether to refer you to contracting offices and end-users.  Contracting officials use this information to make initial determinations about whether you have the wherewithal to perform.

GTPAC also recommends, in addition to a Capabilities Statement, that you create a one-page briefing sheet on your firm.  It, too, should be tailored to each audience or occasion.  Briefing sheets can be very helpful as handouts when you are attending trade shows, expos, pre-bid conferences, or face-to-face meetings.

If you need a sample Capabilities Statement or more guidance on this subject, contact your GTPAC Procurement Counselor for help.  Remember, too, to attend GTPAC classes to obtain detailed instruction on marketing your business to the government sector.

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