What Should My Capability Statement Look Like?
The one-page document federal buyers ask for, what belongs on it, and the mistakes that get it deleted.
What it is for
A capability statement is a single page that tells a federal buyer who you are, what you do, and why you can be trusted with the work. It is the document people mean when they ask you to “send something over” after a conversation, and it is what gets attached to a Sources Sought response.
It is a marketing document with a procurement audience, which is a different thing from a brochure. Nobody is going to read paragraph three. Assume it gets thirty seconds and is then filed in a folder, to be found later by someone searching for a firm that does what you do.
What has to be on it
Core competencies: what you actually deliver, in the vocabulary the government uses for it. Differentiators: the specific reason to pick you over a similar firm — a clearance, a certification, a location, equipment you own, a response time you can commit to. Past performance: a handful of relevant contracts with the customer, the scope and the outcome.
Then the administrative block, which is the part small firms most often leave off and the part a contracting officer most needs: your Unique Entity ID, CAGE code, NAICS codes, any socioeconomic certifications, your business size, and a named human with a phone number and an email address.
What keeps it off the pile
Keep it to one page. Two pages is a document nobody finishes, and the discipline of one page forces out the filler. Send it as a PDF so it looks the same on the other end.
Cut adjectives with no evidence behind them. “World-class”, “innovative” and “best-in-class” appear on almost every capability statement ever written and distinguish none of them. A response time, a square footage, a retention rate or a contract value does the job those words are failing to do.
Tailor it before you send it. A version aimed at the agency you are actually writing to, leading with the work they actually buy, will do more than a generic one — and it takes about ten minutes once the base document exists.
Related reading
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