THE BREIFING ROOM

The Federal Acquisition Regulation is a barrier, but the Commercial Item Contract (FAR Part 12) is the "fast lane." It mandates the government buy commercial products on commercial terms, stripping away cost audits and IP risks. For tech firms, mastering the commercial item determination is the key to selling at speed while protecting margins.

The "Valley of Death" is not merely a capital scarcity issue; it is a structural misalignment between RDT&E and Procurement appropriations. Survival requires shifting corporate posture from "technology development" to "programmatic transition" 24 months before the prototype is complete. Here is the playbook for crossing the chasm.

A Basic Ordering Agreement (BOA) is not a contract; it is a pre-negotiated "hunting license" that removes administrative friction. For firms offering rapid response or specialized services, a BOA transforms them from an unknown vendor into an on-call partner, ready to execute when the mission cannot wait. Here is how to propose one to your customer.

Commercial marketing is an air war for volume; defense marketing is a ground war for precision. Firms that apply a "broadcast" playbook to the DoD waste capital on audiences that aren't listening. Success requires surgical engagement—building deep credibility with the specific stakeholders who control the requirement. Here is the 4-step playbook to stop broadcasting and start aligning.

A Requirements Contract grants a firm 100% of the government's business for a specific need—an exclusive franchise. But with exclusivity comes the risk of extreme demand volatility. Success requires pricing the risk of surge capacity, not just the cost of the unit. Here is how to model the deal.

A successful demo is an event, not a business model. The "Demo Day Hangover" occurs when firms fail to follow up with a disciplined capture cadence. Success requires a weekly operating rhythm that systematically engages stakeholders, generates artifacts, and retires risk over a 12-month campaign.

Winning a $1B Multiple Award Contract (MAC) sounds like a victory, but it guarantees exactly $0 in revenue. A MAC is simply a "members-only" hunting license. The real revenue lies in the relentless "Fair Opportunity" battles for Task Orders. Here is how to survive the transition from winning the vehicle to winning the work.

"No win, no fee" sounds like a safe bet, but in federal contracting, it creates perverse incentives and legal risks. Contingency fees encourage gambling with your B&P budget rather than executing a disciplined capture strategy. True alignment requires a partner paid to do the hard work of shaping, not just the volume work of bidding.

The GSA Schedule is the government's "easy button" for buying commercial technology. It transforms a firm from an unknown vendor into a pre-vetted partner. However, it is a license to hunt, not a guarantee of revenue. Success requires leveraging the vehicle to remove friction from the buyer's journey.

Prime contractors are the gatekeepers to major defense programs. They are simultaneously partners and competitors. Success requires a "Frenemy Framework": protecting IP, leveraging their infrastructure as a Trojan Horse, and positioning technology as an enabler of their revenue, not a threat to their workshare.

An IDIQ award is a license to hunt, not a guarantee of revenue. Winning the "on-ramp" is only the first battle. The real war is fought for the task orders. Firms that fail to plan for this high-velocity second phase end up with a contract vehicle and zero revenue. Here is the playbook for the Two-Front War.

Enthusiasm is not a budget. Most "opportunities" in the defense market are phantoms—lacking the funding or authority to close. Success requires a ruthless Go/No-Go framework to disqualify leads before they drain your resources.

Share-in-Savings contracts allow firms to fund modernization through the inefficiencies they eliminate. It is a high-risk, high-reward model that bypasses budget constraints by turning waste into revenue. Success requires deep financial engineering and the ability to prove value before getting paid.

A commercial pitch deck sells a vision; a DoD Quad Chart sells a solution. To win in defense, founders must trade their slides for "capture artifacts"—dense, government-literate documents that answer the Program Manager's specific questions on requirements, integration, and funding. Here is how to build your "Jump Kit."

Traditional contracts pay for effort; Performance-Based contracts pay for results. This shift allows technology firms to compete on value rather than labor rates. Winning requires shaping the metrics to reward innovation, not just compliance. Here is how to navigate the shift from SOW to PWS.

A "fair price" is not necessarily a "winnable price." Firms that price based on internal costs consistently lose to competitors who price based on market intelligence. Pricing to Win (PTW) is the discipline of finding the market's price point first, then reverse-engineering a profitable solution to meet it.

Fixed-price contracts punish risk; cost-plus contracts often subsidize inefficiency. The Incentive Contract bridges this gap, aligning profit with performance. For mature firms, it is the mechanism to turn operational efficiency into higher margins. Here is the calculus behind the deal.

The PEO signs the contract, but they rarely make the decision alone. The "hidden ecosystem" of FFRDCs, UARCs, and Service Labs validates the technology and writes the requirements. Winning requires influencing the architects, not just pitching the buyer.

Innovation is unpredictable; fixed-price contracts are not. For deep-tech founders, the Cost Plus Fixed Fee contract is the essential "safe harbor" that shifts financial risk to the government. However, accessing this funding requires surviving the DCAA audit. Here is how to operationalize your back office to secure the contract that funds your moonshot.

The DoD doesn't buy on enthusiasm; it buys on a calendar. Founders who treat defense sales as a quarterly sprint will starve. Success requires aligning with the 36-month PPBE cycle—a campaign that begins two years before the RFP is ever written. If you aren't in the POM, you aren't in the market.