As the Federal contracting market evolves in the face of deep budget cuts, the majority of Government contracts are moving to IDIQ vehicles. An IDIQ is a type of contract that incorporates anything from a Multiple Award Schedule (such as the GSA or VA schedules) to Government-wide Acquisition Contracts (GWAC), Enterprise-wide Acquisition Contracts (EWAC), single-agency IDIQs, Multi-Award Contracts (MAC), MATOCs from the Army Corps of Engineers, GSA’s Blanket Purchase Agreements, and so on.

In a nutshell, the Government is using IDIQs to award faster, and with fewer headaches because they don’t have much time to dilly-dally with extended 6-18 month procurements and a higher possibility of protest. Procurements that were once stand-alone are now task orders, with some exceeding $800 million.

Most Federal contractors see IDIQs as the main strategic element of their revenue growth. Unfortunately, many companies collect IDIQs but win too few task orders to justify their investment. These companies spend tens of thousands of dollars on losing bid after losing bid while they watch other contractors grow exponentially and dominate their IDIQ competitions. The secret to higher revenues is not only to have enough IDIQ vehicles (or all the right vehicles in your industry), but also to leverage them to the maximum extent possible.

One of the crucial strategic elements companies miss is having a Task Order Manual with vital information on IDIQ patterns and processes the entire team can follow, to stay organized and moving in the same direction. The power of focus and knowledge distinguishes winners from the rest. Not having a Task Order Manual leads to lack of organization and leadership after an IDIQ award—no one on the IDIQ Team knows how to prepare for Task Orders, how to react quickly in order to bid, and how to go about winning. It leads to loss of momentum, skepticism, and lack of support from the team. Task Order responses barely make the deadline because companies learn about the majority of Task Order RFPs as they are released, instead of having a list of upcoming Task Orders with win strategies for the critical ones. Lack of planning and preparation lead to throwing hastily written proposals over the wall, with low win probability (Pwin).

What processes will your team follow for business development, capture, and proposal development in an environment where it is hard to talk to the customer, and you don’t find out much until a Task Order request for proposal drops? 

How will everyone stay organized and know what to do when time is of the essence?

We have developed a Task Order Manual Template to help you dominate your IDIQ competition. This is a 52-page, detailed document that not only provides the format and the words to put in your own Task Order Manual, but also gives directions on how to tailor it further to your needs. It offers insights into best practices in winning Task Orders, provides examples, and explores various scenarios to make it fit different IDIQ vehicles you may encounter.

It took us countless hours to develop this Manual, and it encapsulates years of lessons learned from those who have built winning IDIQ machines and closely watched the top Government contractors’ best practices. It will save you time and learning through mistakes, and will help win millions of dollars in Task Orders.

Download it instantly in electronic format so that you can start tailoring it right away on your IDIQs, to organize your work and maximize your Team’s Pwin for Task Orders.

Mary Ludwig, Business Development Consultant, MBO Partners