Capability Statement 101: Crafting a Winning Statement

Think of it as: “If a contracting officer or teaming partner only had 30 seconds with one page, what would make them call us back?”

Essential sections

Most U.S. small-business and government contracting resources recommend some variation of the following sections: Core Competencies, Past Performance, Differentiators, and Company / Corporate Data (often plus a brief overview and strong contact block).(sbdc.buffalostate.edu)

1. Core competencies (what you actually do)

This is the heart of your statement.

Goal: Show, in plain language, the specific services or products you deliver that map to agency needs.

Best practices (from SBA, GSA, and PTAC worksheets):(Small Business Administration)

• Use short, keyword-rich bullet points instead of paragraphs (easier to scan and parse).
• Group capabilities into 2–4 themed clusters (e.g., “Cybersecurity Operations,” “Cloud Architecture,” “Training & Change Management”).
• Align wording with solicitations and NAICS descriptions you typically pursue, so your core competencies echo the language buyers and search tools use.
• Avoid generic phrases like “full-service solutions provider” without context—be specific (e.g., “Zero-trust network design and implementation for multi-site agencies”).

You can also add a short 1–2 sentence intro tying your competencies to the target agency’s mission for tailored versions.

2. Past performance (relevant, concise, outcome-focused)

Goal: Prove you’ve done similar work successfully, ideally in environments that look like the buyer’s world.

Government and small-business resources consistently emphasize relevant past performance with measurable results over long project lists.(sbdc.buffalostate.edu)

Include 3–5 bullet points. For each project:

• Customer / role: Agency or prime, contract type, your role (prime / sub).
• Scope: One line on what you did, framed in the customer’s terms.
• Outcomes: Quantified where possible (e.g., “Reduced processing time by 32%,” “Maintained 99.99% uptime over 3-year period.”).
• Relevance tag: Optionally call out “Relevant to: Helpdesk BPA,” “Relevant to: Cloud migration IDIQ.”

You can also mention commercial work that clearly parallels government requirements, especially if you’re new to GovCon.

3. Differentiators (why you vs. peers)

Many firms either skip this section or fill it with boilerplate. Multiple consulting and government-contracting guides treat weak or generic differentiators as one of the top reasons capability statements fail.(clientcentric)

Goal: Make it obvious why your firm is a better, safer, or faster choice than the next five vendors in the stack.

Stronger differentiators:

• Are specific and provable, not slogans. (e.g., “Proprietary incident-response playbooks used by three cabinet-level agencies” vs. “world-class service.”)
• Link to results, not just traits. (e.g., “24/7 U.S.-based support that resolves 90% of tickets on first contact.”)
• Highlight niche expertise (mission, tech stack, population served, regulatory domain).
• Reference socio-economic status only when it actually helps fulfill set-aside or subcontracting goals (e.g., “WOSB/SDVOSB with experience as a key subcontractor on large IDIQs.”).

Think in categories:

• Technical edge: Methodologies, tools, IP, certified staff.
• Domain edge: Deep experience with a specific agency, community, or regulatory framework.
• Delivery edge: Speed, quality metrics, on-time rate, low protest history.
• Customer experience: Long-term relationships, CPARS scores, repeat awards.

4. Company data (UEI, NAICS, socio-economic, and more)

Federal guidance consistently recommends a compact “Corporate Data” block capturing codes and status so buyers can quickly check eligibility and run searches.(USFCR Blog)

Typical elements:

• Legal business name and DBA
• UEI and CAGE (if applicable)
• Primary and secondary NAICS codes for the work you actually pursue
• Socio-economic designations (e.g., 8(a), WOSB, SDVOSB, HUBZone, SDB) with program years where relevant(Small Business Administration)
• Contract vehicles (e.g., GSA MAS, IDIQs, BPAs, state schedules)
• Locations: HQ plus major operating locations, with any relevant geographic coverage notes
• Key certifications and clearances: (e.g., ISO, CMMI, CMMC readiness, facility / personnel clearances, specialized licenses)

Format it as a compact table or column so it’s easy for both people and machines to parse.

5. Contact, branding, and formatting

Agencies and PTACs frequently note that poor contact info and cluttered design hurt otherwise solid statements.(U.S. General Services Administration)

Minimums:

• Named point of contact with direct email and phone (not just a generic inbox).
• Website and LinkedIn (or other professional presence).
• Consistent branding: Logo, colors, fonts that match your other materials.
• Clean layout: One page when possible, white space, clear section headers, bullets over dense paragraphs.

Common mistakes

Research on hundreds of real capability statements highlights a recurring set of errors that keep good companies from getting shortlisted.(clientcentric)

1. Buzzword soup and vague claims

• Phrases like “innovative, world-class, best-in-breed” without proof.
• Capabilities described so broadly they could belong to any firm.

Fix: Replace each buzzword with a specific activity or result (what you did, for whom, with what measurable impact).

2. Listing everything you’ve ever done (including every NAICS)

• Copy-pasting your entire SAM profile or NAICS list to “cover all bases.”
• Mixing unrelated work (e.g., IT services and janitorial) on the same generic sheet.

Why it hurts: It confuses buyers and dilutes the match between your profile and any given opportunity.

Fix:

• Limit to 3–6 NAICS codes that actually align with your pipeline.
• Maintain variants of your capability statement (by line of business or sector) rather than one master document.

3. No proof: outcomes, metrics, or references

Many capability-statement reviewers call out a lack of quantifiable impact or tangible evidence as a top failure mode.(clientcentric)

Fix:

• Add metrics to at least half your bullets (e.g., “Cut onboarding time from 10 days to 3 days.”).
• Mention CPARS ratings, renewal / option exercise, and repeat awards where allowed.
• If you can’t name customers, describe them (e.g., “Fortune 100 financial services firm,” “Top-5 U.S. health system.”).

4. Poor tailoring and unclear audience

Guides from PTACs and agencies repeatedly stress that a capability statement should speak to one specific agency or buyer at a time.(Department of Health & Human Services)

Fix:

• Create agency-specific variants (e.g., HHS, VA, DoD) with:

  • Tailored intro line connecting to the agency’s mission.
  • Selected past performance that looks like their work.
  • Highlighted vehicles that agency already uses.

5. Hard to read (or hard to trust)

Common formatting and credibility red flags:(fedbizaccess.com)

• Overstuffed pages with tiny fonts and no white space.
• Inconsistent branding, typos, or outdated contact info.
• Walls of text instead of skimmable bullets.

Fix: Treat your statement like a designed marketing asset, not a raw Word doc. Use headings, spacing, and visual hierarchy; run a final QA pass just for contact details.

Why it matters to AI matching (not just humans)

Even though most public guidance talks about human contracting officers, the same structure that helps people scan your sheet also powers search engines, databases, and AI-driven matching tools:

1. Structured fields = better filters

   • Systems like SBA’s Dynamic Small Business Search (DSBS) and agency vendor portals rely heavily on NAICS, socio-economic flags, location, and keywords to filter vendors.(swf.usace.army.mil)
   • If your company data is messy or overloaded, you’ll either not appear or appear in the wrong searches.

2. Clear core competencies = higher relevance scores

   • AI and search algorithms tokenize and embed your text to match it against solicitation language.
   • Bullet-point core competencies that mirror actual requirement language (without copying verbatim) improve semantic similarity and keyword match.

3. Outcome-focused past performance = stronger confidence signals

   • Models that generate fit scores or summaries look for evidence of similar work and impact, not just topic overlap.
   • Quantified results and domain-specific terminology give the model richer features to work with.

4. Differentiators = tie-breaker features

   • When multiple vendors look similar on NAICS and basic scope, unique methods, IP, or domain focus become useful tie-breaker features for both humans and algorithms.

In short, your capability statement becomes the canonical profile that AI-matching tools ingest, normalize, and compare against solicitations and their attachments. A well-structured, current statement yields more accurate fit scores, better summaries, and fewer “false negative” matches.

Quick start: a practical build plan

If you’re starting from scratch (or revisiting an old PDF), use this lightweight workflow:

1. Draft a one-page version first

   • Force yourself to fit on one page before allowing a second page.
   • Start with: logo/contact, 3–6 core competencies, 3–5 past performance bullets, 3–5 differentiators, compact corporate data block.

2. Add quantifiable outcomes everywhere you can

   • Revisit each bullet and ask: “Can I add a number, timeframe, or scale here?”
   • Prioritize measures of cost, time, quality, risk, and mission impact.

3. Align language with your target opportunities

   • Pull 2–3 recent solicitations you wish you’d won (or plan to pursue).
   • Mirror their verbs and nouns in your core competencies and past performance (without copying sentences).

4. Keep it current; revisit quarterly

   • Put a recurring calendar reminder every quarter to:

     • Swap in fresher projects.
     • Update vehicles, certifications, and designations.
     • Refresh target-agency variants based on your pipeline.

5. Test with humans and tools

   • Ask a PTAC counselor or GovCon mentor to do a 30-second scan and tell you what sticks.
   • Run your text through any AI-matching or market-research tool you use and check whether the surfaced opportunities “feel right.”

Summary

A strong capability statement is:

• Short, specific, and outcome-oriented, not a generic brochure.
• Structured into clear sections that match what government buyers and portals expect.
• Regularly refreshed as your past performance, certifications, and target agencies evolve.
• Friendly to both humans and AI, so you get more—and better-qualified—matches.

Want help drafting, tailoring, or plugging it into AI matching workflows? Book a live demo and we’ll walk through your current materials and turn them into a high-performing, machine-ready capability statement.