Writing Past Performance Volumes for Government Proposals

Past performance is the government's best predictor of future success. Evaluators use your track record on previous contracts to assess whether you're likely to deliver on this one. In many procurements, past performance is weighted equally with or higher than technical approach.

What evaluators are looking for in past performance:

• Relevance — Are your previous contracts similar to this one in scope, complexity, dollar value, and technical requirements? The more relevant your experience, the higher your confidence rating.
• Recency — Recent contracts matter more than old ones. Most RFPs specify a lookback period (typically 3-5 years). Focus on your best, most recent performance.
• Quality of performance — Did you meet requirements, deliver on time, stay within budget, and satisfy the customer? CPARS ratings, customer testimonials, and performance metrics provide evidence.
• Problems and resolutions — How did you handle challenges? Evaluators want to see that you identify problems early and resolve them effectively. Even contracts with issues can demonstrate strong problem-solving if handled well.
• Scale and complexity — Have you successfully managed contracts of similar size and complexity? A contractor with only $500K contracts will struggle to win a $10M opportunity without demonstrating scalability.

The FAR (Federal Acquisition Regulation) requires agencies to evaluate past performance for competitive contracts over $150,000. Section M of the RFP will specify the evaluation criteria, weighting, and what information you must provide. Read Section M carefully — it tells you exactly what matters.

Agencies use PPIRS (Past Performance Information Retrieval System) and CPARS (Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System) to verify your performance ratings. You can't hide poor performance — but you can contextualize it and show how you've improved. See our CPARS Guide for managing your ratings.

Choosing which contracts to include as past performance references is a strategic decision. You want contracts that are highly relevant, recently performed, and demonstrate excellent results. Quality beats quantity — three highly relevant contracts score better than ten marginally related ones.

Criteria for selecting references:

• Scope similarity — The closer the work matches the current solicitation, the better. If you're bidding on IT help desk support, past help desk contracts are ideal. Past software development contracts are less relevant but better than unrelated work.
• Agency similarity — Contracts with the same agency or similar agencies score higher. If bidding on a DoD contract, DoD past performance is most relevant. Other federal agency experience is next best, followed by state/local government.
• Contract value — Choose contracts with similar dollar values. If bidding on a $5M contract, references in the $3M-$10M range demonstrate you can handle the scale. Avoid only showing $200K contracts — it raises capacity concerns.
• Contract type — If the solicitation is a Firm Fixed Price (FFP) contract, show FFP experience. Cost-plus experience is different and may be less relevant. Match contract types when possible.
• Performance quality — Obviously, choose contracts where you performed well. CPARS ratings of "Exceptional" or "Very Good" strengthen your case. If you have a "Satisfactory" rating, consider whether the contract is relevant enough to justify inclusion.
• Recency — Recent contracts demonstrate current capability. Prioritize contracts completed or ongoing within the past 3 years unless the RFP specifies a different timeframe.

How many references to include? Follow Section L instructions. If the RFP says "provide 3-5 references," provide 5 (assuming you have them). More data points give evaluators more confidence. If no number is specified, 3-5 highly relevant contracts is standard.

Pro tip: Include a mix of completed and ongoing contracts if possible. Completed contracts show you can finish successfully. Ongoing contracts demonstrate current capability and that agencies trust you enough to keep working with you.

A past performance narrative is not just a list of contracts. It's a persuasive story that proves you've successfully delivered work similar to what the government needs. Strong narratives demonstrate both capability and results.

Structure for each past performance reference:

• Contract overview — Provide basic information: contract title, contract number, customer agency, period of performance, total contract value, contract type (FFP, T&M, cost-plus), and whether it's completed or ongoing. Make this information easy to find — evaluators often verify details.
• Scope of work summary — Describe what you did in enough detail to show relevance. "We provided full IT operations and maintenance for the agency's 50-server infrastructure, including help desk support (24/7), network monitoring, patch management, and cybersecurity incident response." Be specific about technologies, scale, and complexity.
• Relevance explanation — Explicitly state why this contract is relevant to the current solicitation. Don't make evaluators infer the connection. "This contract is directly relevant to the current solicitation because both require 24/7 help desk support for Windows Server environments, incident response within 30 minutes, and NIST 800-53 compliance."
• Results and outcomes — Quantify your accomplishments. "We achieved 98.5% uptime against a 95% target, reduced mean time to resolution (MTTR) from 6 hours to 2.5 hours, and received zero security incidents during our 3-year performance period." Metrics prove performance.
• Performance ratings — Include your CPARS ratings (or equivalent). "We received CPARS ratings of Exceptional in Quality, Schedule, and Customer Satisfaction, and Very Good in Cost Control and Management." If you don't have formal ratings (e.g., for commercial contracts), include customer testimonials or letters of reference.
• Challenges and resolutions — If there were significant challenges, briefly describe them and emphasize how you resolved them. "During Year 2, a ransomware attack attempted to compromise the network. Our team detected the attack within 8 minutes, isolated affected systems, and restored full operations within 4 hours with zero data loss."

Write narratives in a consistent format across all references so evaluators can easily compare. Use headings, bullet points, and white space for readability. A dense paragraph of text is hard to evaluate — structured narratives score better.

Relevance is the most critical factor in past performance evaluation. A contract that is highly relevant but performed satisfactorily often scores better than an exceptional but unrelated contract. You must explicitly argue why your experience is relevant — don't assume it's obvious.

Strategies for demonstrating relevance:

• Map requirements to past performance. Create a table that shows how each major SOW requirement has been performed on previous contracts. "SOW Requirement 3.2.1 (Network Monitoring) was performed on Contract X (2021-2024) where we monitored a 50-server environment using SolarWinds, the same tool proposed for this contract."
• Use comparison tables. A side-by-side table showing "Solicitation Requirement" vs. "Past Performance Evidence" makes relevance visually clear and easy for evaluators to score.
• Highlight common elements. Look for overlaps in technology, methodology, customer type, regulatory requirements, security clearances, or performance standards. "Both contracts require FedRAMP Moderate authorization, FISMA compliance, and protection of CUI (Controlled Unclassified Information)."
• Scale and complexity arguments. If the dollar value or team size differs, explain why your experience is still relevant. "While this reference contract was $3M compared to the current $7M solicitation, the technical complexity is identical, and we have since scaled our team from 15 to 40 FTEs, demonstrating growth capability."
• Address gaps honestly. If your past performance doesn't perfectly match a requirement, acknowledge it but show analogous experience. "While we haven't used [specific tool] required in this SOW, we have 5 years of experience with [similar tool], and our staff are certified in both platforms."

If you're a small business competing against larger firms with more contracts, focus on depth over breadth. Show that your smaller number of contracts are highly relevant and demonstrate deep expertise in exactly what the government needs.

What if you're a new company or you lack federal past performance? The FAR states that agencies cannot unfairly penalize contractors for lack of past performance — they must evaluate you as "neutral" rather than negative. However, a neutral rating is still a competitive disadvantage. You need to compensate by building confidence through other means.

Strategies for contractors with limited past performance:

• Leverage individual experience. If your company is new but your key personnel have extensive experience, emphasize this. "While [Company] was founded in 2024, our Project Manager has managed 12 similar contracts over 15 years at [previous employer], including [specific relevant contract]." Include individual resumes showing deep experience.
• Use subcontractor past performance. If you're teaming with an experienced subcontractor, you can often reference their past performance (with their permission). "Our proposed subcontractor, [Company], has performed IT support on 8 DoD contracts over the past 5 years, achieving an average CPARS rating of 4.5/5.0."
• Provide commercial references. Commercial contracts demonstrate capability even if they're not federal. "While our federal portfolio is limited, we provide 24/7 IT support to [major commercial client], a Fortune 500 company with 200+ servers and 5,000 users — comparable in scale to this requirement."
• Start small and build. The fastest way to gain federal past performance is to win smaller contracts, perform exceptionally, and use those as references for larger opportunities. Target simplified acquisitions under $250K, small business set-asides, or subcontracting roles to build your record.
• Emphasize corporate capability and capacity. Show that your company has the infrastructure, quality processes, financial stability, and resources to perform even if you lack a long track record. Include corporate certifications (ISO 9001, CMMI), financial statements, and letters of credit demonstrating capacity.
• Provide customer testimonials. Signed letters from satisfied customers (federal or commercial) carry weight, especially if they speak to quality, responsiveness, and problem-solving — the qualities evaluators care about.

Never fabricate or exaggerate past performance. Agencies verify references through CPARS, direct customer contact, and publicly available data. Dishonesty results in immediate disqualification and potential debarment. See our Past Performance Guide for building your track record.

CPARS (Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System) and PPIRS (Past Performance Information Retrieval System) are the government's official databases for tracking contractor performance. Evaluators will pull your CPARS reports during evaluation, so you need to understand what's in your record and how to present it effectively.

Understanding CPARS ratings:

• Rating scale — CPARS uses a 5-point scale: Exceptional, Very Good, Satisfactory, Marginal, Unsatisfactory. Only DoD contracts are required to use CPARS, but many civilian agencies do as well.
• Evaluation categories — Ratings are given in multiple areas: Quality of Product/Service, Schedule/Timeliness, Cost Control, Business Relations, Management/Business Operations, and Customer Satisfaction. Different categories may have different ratings.
• Narrative comments — In addition to ratings, CORs provide narrative comments explaining strengths and weaknesses. These narratives can be more influential than numerical ratings.
• Contractor responses — You have the right to submit a response to any CPARS rating. Use this to provide context, explain extenuating circumstances, or correct factual errors. Your response becomes part of the permanent record.

How to present CPARS data in your past performance volume:

• Include ratings explicitly. Don't hide CPARS ratings — evaluators will find them anyway. "We received CPARS ratings of Exceptional in all categories for FY2024 and FY2025." If you have strong ratings, highlight them prominently.
• Address lower ratings proactively. If you have a "Satisfactory" or lower rating, acknowledge it and explain the context and corrective actions. "In FY2023, we received a Satisfactory rating in Schedule due to a 15-day delay caused by government-furnished equipment delivery. We implemented a GFE tracking system and have since achieved Very Good or Exceptional ratings in Schedule for 8 consecutive quarters."
• Provide context with narratives. Include excerpts from CPARS narrative comments that support your claims. "The Contracting Officer stated: 'Contractor demonstrated exceptional responsiveness and problem-solving, resolving a critical system outage within 2 hours on a holiday weekend.'"
• Reference PPIRS directly. Some RFPs require you to provide your PPIRS registration or direct evaluators to check PPIRS for your record. Ensure your PPIRS data is current and accurate before proposal submission.

Pro tip: Monitor your CPARS reports regularly. You have 30 days to respond after a COR submits a rating. Use this time to provide your perspective, especially if the rating is unfair or contains errors. A well-written contractor response can mitigate the impact of a lower rating.

Most RFPs require you to provide customer contact information so the government can verify your past performance claims. Some require customers to complete formal questionnaires. Managing this process professionally is critical — you don't want negative surprises during evaluation.

Best practices for reference coordination:

• Get permission before listing references. Always contact your references before including them in a proposal. Explain the opportunity, the evaluation process, and ask for their support. Unsolicited reference checks can annoy customers and result in lukewarm feedback.
• Prepare your references. Send your references a summary of the opportunity, a copy of the relevant sections of your proposal (so they know what you claimed), and the evaluation criteria. Help them understand what information would be most helpful to the government.
• Provide accurate contact information. Verify phone numbers, email addresses, and titles before submission. Evaluators get frustrated when they can't reach references, and it reflects poorly on you.
• Use recent points of contact. If possible, list current CORs or program managers who know your work. Retired or transferred personnel may not remember details or may be difficult to reach.
• Manage questionnaire requests proactively. If the RFP requires references to complete questionnaires, coordinate this early. Send your references a draft questionnaire, explain the deadline, and follow up to ensure they submit it on time. Late or missing questionnaires hurt your evaluation.
• Follow up after submission. Let your references know when to expect contact from the government and thank them for their support. Maintaining good relationships with past customers is essential for long-term business development.

What if you're concerned a reference might provide negative feedback? If you know there were performance issues on a contract, consider whether to include it as a reference. Sometimes it's better to use a strong commercial reference than a mediocre federal one. If the RFP allows you to choose which contracts to reference, play to your strengths.

However, if the RFP requires you to list all contracts within a certain period (common for DoD), you can't cherry-pick. In that case, provide context and corrective actions for any contracts with issues: "While we experienced delays in Q3 due to government-furnished data delivery issues, we recovered the schedule by Q4 and completed all deliverables on time by contract end."