Capture plan
Also called: Capture strategy
Updated
What is Capture plan?
A capture plan is the working document that sets out how a company will win one specific contract, written before the solicitation is released. It records what the customer needs, who else is competing, the teaming partners, the win themes and solution, and the actions and owners that move the pursuit forward.
What goes in a capture plan
Most capture plans cover the same ground: the opportunity (agency, scope, value, vehicle, expected dates), the customer (mission, problems, decision makers and what they care about), the competition (the incumbent, likely bidders and their weaknesses), the team (teaming agreements and workshare), the solution and price position, and the win themes the proposal will carry.
The last part matters most: a list of capture actions, each with an owner and a date, such as meeting the program office, answering the RFI, closing a partner, or gathering past performance.
How a capture plan turns into a proposal
When the RFP arrives, the capture plan becomes the proposal strategy. Win themes are tied to the Section M factors they answer, ghost themes target competitor weaknesses, and the solution feeds the outline. A team that skipped capture usually writes a compliant but generic proposal.
Common mistakes are writing the plan once and filing it, filling it with what the company wants to sell instead of what the customer needs, and starting it after the RFP is out, when the customer can no longer be engaged because of the FAR 15.201(f) quiet period.
The same discipline works for state and local pursuits, scaled down. A city or county contract may not justify a long plan, but it still rewards knowing the buyer, the evaluation committee's priorities, the current vendor and the local partners. A one-page plan with the customer's top concerns, the competitors, the team and three actions with owners is often enough to turn a reactive bid into a positioned one. Keep the plan in the same place as the proposal so the people writing can read what capture learned.
Capture plan in ProposalWorkspace
ProposalWorkspace keeps the capture plan as a Capture and Win Strategy canvas on each pursuit: Customer, Competition (ghost and threat), Team (share and agreement), Win Themes tied to Section M, and Capture Actions, with a capture signal of AT RISK, BUILDING or ON TRACK.
Capture plan: questions and answers
When should a capture plan start?
As soon as a pursuit is qualified, ideally months before the RFP: early enough to talk with the customer, shape the requirement through RFIs and line up partners.
How long is a capture plan?
Long enough to be useful and short enough to be kept current. Many teams use a few pages or a structured canvas updated at each gate review.
Is a capture plan submitted to the government?
No. It is an internal document. Its results show up in the proposal as win themes, discriminators and a solution shaped to the customer.
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