Going from $2MM to $158MM in Two Years

Post Author: Dr. Lea Culver, PMP - President and CEO of Creek Technologies

2020 was a challenging year for everyone, including Creek Technologies. We had previously thrived as a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) with multiple contracts, but as of 2020 we had not won any new business on over a year and a half. With only $2 million in contract back funding, we needed to increase the amount of new business we were not only pursuing, but winning.

Our team also realized that the government contracting industry in the federal market was undergoing a transformation in how contracts are solicited and awarded. Government agencies are increasingly using GWAC multiple-award IDIQ (indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity) vehicles. Small businesses not only have to navigate challenges of limited past performance, but now they also must invest more resources to accessing the opportunities in the first place. Finding ways to access and utilize these vehicles became a top priority in 2020.

Through a lot of hard work by our team and the innovative processes embedded into the InfoSquirrel™ software, we were able to solve our contract funding problem. Over the next two years, our team would go on to win multiple contracts and increase our awarded contract value from $2 million to $158 million. With additional awards expected in 2023, we are anticipating graduating from the small business size standard very soon.

Here is a snapshot of how we did it and how you can implement our lessons-learned:

• Focus on IDIQs and expand your opportunity funnel – Invest in winning a seat on a high award vehicle or build partnerships with organizations that already do. These vehicles have less competition and more likelihood of making quick wins to generate revenue. Forming partnerships will be important for you to have success in this area. InfoSquirrel™ helps us to make the most use of our IDIQ vehicles through the teaming management and proposal writing features. Also make sure that your teams are accessing a wide enough funnel of opportunities that are already available to you.
• Expand your network of teaming partners – In 2019 we had roughly 12 teaming partners. As of this year we now have over 180 organizations in our network. Relationships are crucial, but you need to formalize a network of ongoing connections that continue despite turnover and new hires. We use InfoSquirrelTM to network with partners, share capability information, and keep information up to date.
• Create teaming processes and eliminate wasteful steps – In 2019 we only responded to 6 RFPs and RFIs. Through streamlining our processes, we responded to 80 opportunities in 2022 without adding any additional BD and proposal team members. We are on track to do even more this year. The opportunity sharing, capability matrix, and proposal writing tools in InfoSquirrel™ reduce hours and even weeks of meetings, phone calls, emails, spreadsheets, etc.
• Stop writing proposals from scratch – Many companies spend too much time writing proposals and always feel the need to hire more writers. Instead, start by repurposing your existing content to write new proposals. The quality of your proposals matters but increasing the volume of submissions is sometimes the only way to break into the market. We use the InfoSquirrel™ Proposal Miner and management features to quickly access existing material like Management Approach sections, Quality Control Plans, and past performance write-ups. Using existing content and building on it also increases the quality of our proposals over time.

Through expanding your network, implementing efficient processes, and using tools to re-purpose existing content can help any team, large or small, to win more business. For us, InfoSquirrel™ is the tool that brings all these methods together.