Harborview IT Services sees its recompetes a year out
A managed services firm learned about expiring contracts when the solicitation posted. Captivaq lists the recompetes in its field months ahead, with the incumbent and the value, so the company starts early.
Wen ZhaoPrincipal, Harborview IT Services
Key results
Recompetes seen months before the solicitation
Incumbent and contract value known before the first call
Capture planned around a calendar instead of a surprise
“We used to find out a contract was ending when the RFP posted. Now we see the recompete a year out and we are already talking to the agency.”
Wen ZhaoPrincipal, Harborview IT ServicesMeet Harborview IT Services
Harborview IT Services runs help desks and network support for county governments and a few federal field offices in the Pacific Northwest. Wen Zhao founded it and still leads every proposal.
IT support contracts run for years and then come up again. Winning one means being ready when it does, and Harborview never knew when that was.
“Our best customers were somebody else's customers first. The trick is knowing when they come loose.”
Learning about it when it posts
A recompete would post with thirty days to respond. By then the incumbent had been talking to the agency for a year, and Harborview was writing from a standing start.
Wen tried tracking expirations in a spreadsheet built from award notices. It was always behind, and half the contracts had option years nobody had recorded.
“Thirty days is not enough to learn an agency. We were always the stranger at the door.”
The recompete list
Captivaq matched the company profile against the award records as well as the notices. The recompete view listed every contract in Harborview's field due to end in the next eighteen months, with the incumbent and the value.
“The first time I opened the recompete list I found six contracts I should have been chasing already.”
Each one carries the agency, the end date and the past awards, so the capture work can start with a phone call instead of a search.
A calendar instead of a surprise
Harborview now runs capture off a calendar. The team knows which contracts end when, has met the contracting officers, and has past performance lined up before the solicitation posts.
“We see the recompete a year out and we are already talking to the agency. That is the whole game.”
The first recompete it chased this way was a county help desk contract. Harborview submitted on day ten of thirty, with a bid that had been in the works for eight months.
