How federal proposals are evaluated
Two proposals can be equally compliant and still be scored completely differently, because the evaluation method is chosen before the solicitation goes out. Reading which one you are in is the first thing to do with a new RFP.
The method decides where effort pays. Under LPTA, past the technical threshold, only price moves the outcome. Under best value tradeoff, the government can pay more for a stronger offer, which makes your record on prior work worth writing carefully about, and that record is not only what you claim: agencies read your CPARS ratings directly.
LPTA vs. best value
Also: Lowest Price Technically Acceptable · best-value tradeoff
Two ways the government picks a winner: cheapest acceptable bid (LPTA), or the best mix of price and merit (best value).
Under Lowest Price Technically Acceptable, the government scores each proposal pass or fail against stated requirements, then awards to the lowest-priced offer that passes. Extra quality earns you nothing, so the game is to be compliant and competitive on price.
Under a best-value tradeoff, the government can pay more for a stronger proposal, weighing factors like technical approach and past performance against price. Read Section M to learn which method applies, because it changes how you should write and price the bid.
Past performance
Your track record on similar prior work, which the government weighs as evidence you can deliver.
Past performance is the evaluator's way of predicting future results from proven ones. Proposals typically ask for recent, relevant contracts of similar size and scope, with references the government can check, often through CPARS.
Relevance and recency matter more than volume. A few closely matched projects, described against the evaluation criteria, beat a long list of loosely related work.
CPARS
Also: Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System
The federal system where agencies grade your performance on completed contracts, which future evaluators can read.
The Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System is where contracting officers record how well you performed on a contract, across areas like quality, schedule, and management. Ratings run from exceptional to unsatisfactory.
These records feed past-performance evaluations on your next bids, so a CPARS rating is a durable asset or liability. You can comment on a rating you disagree with before it is finalized.