Alliant 3 and “Mid-Tiers” – Can you Compete?

There are concerns that in GSA’s draft RFP for Alliant 3, “medium-sized” firms may not be able to compete for the vehicle.

But what is a “mid-tier” company? There is no official definition, and as far as the Government is concerned, you are either a small business, or you are an “other than small business,” (OTSB) or large business.

The Alliant 3 NAICS code is expected to be 541512; with a $34M small business size standard. For those of you below $100M in average gross annual receipts, this may be too big a gap for you to prime on your own.

However, if you're a mid-tier company in the $100-500M, there may be room at the table to compete for Alliant 3 with those companies who have won between $100MM and $500MM in contracts.

Don't just assume all of those firms currently on Alliant 2 will re-win a spot on the follow on contract. Those that failed to monetize their position, may not choose to bid again.

While we do believe that the top 10-15 revenue winning companies on Alliant 2 will probably be on Alliant 3, these firms offer great opportunities to team on Alliant task orders and other single award contracts:

BOOZ ALLEN HAMILTON

• CACI INTERNATIONAL INC
• SCIENCE APPLICATIONS INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION (SAIC)
• GENERAL DYNAMICS CORPORATION
• DELOITTE LLP
• GOVCIO, LLC
• LEIDOS, INC.
• ACCENTURE PLC
• NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORPORATION
• PERATON INC.
• PARSONS-VERSAR LLC

There were also 33 companies that though they are on A2 won few to no contracts. Below is a sample of that list.:

• IBM CORPORATION (INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES)
• MAXIMUS INC
• MANTECH INTERNATIONAL CORP
• JACOBS ENGINEERING GROUP INC
• ECS FEDERAL, LLC (ELECTRONIC CONSULTING SERVICES INC)
• SERCO GROUP PLC
• EMPOWER AI, INC.
• CGI GROUP (CGI FEDERAL)
• KBR, INC. (KBRWYLE)
• SMX, INC. (SMARTRONIX)
• BAE SYSTEMS, INC
• NTT DATA FEDERAL SERVICES
• DOVEL TECHNOLOGIES INC
• IBM CORPORATION (INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES)
• REI SYSTEMS INC
• PLANNED SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL INC (PSI)

Why is that? It’s one thing to win a spot on a major IDIQ, especially as a mid-tier OTSB (LB) who was successful as a SB. You wouldn’t be here if you weren’t successful.

But winning at the large business level requires a different way of thinking, as well as task organizing internally to meet this new challenge.

What worked as a SB probably, and most likely, will not work on A3, or full and open unrestricted on any vehicle.

Let’s discuss three important issues:

1. Investment. Whether you win A3 or you just want to compete as a large, you have to invest in people, processes and technology to bring you into the big leagues. The same people may not be right at the new level, bringing in new people to grow your business may be necessary. You may need to consider establishing a PMO or team that works A3 exclusively. Just piling more work on the same people as you add vehicles is not a recipe for success. And how are you managing your pipeline? Is your CRM state-of-the art, or still a home-grown project…or even just an Excel chart? You need to upgrade your thinking/management/mindset and investments to drive business.
2. Partnering. You need to build strong partnerships. When looking for a partner(s), ask yourself if there is a shared view of the future? Do you complement one another and not just simply bring the same capabilities and strengths? You need to bring partners on board that clos gaps or add strength in your weak areas? And don’t forget the socioeconomics. On average with every LB IDIQ and subsequent TOs the average is 25% to small business with this broken down even further with each category, usually 3-5% per.
3. Competitive Analysis. Before entering the mid-tier battlefield, the more sweat equity spent in understanding your competition the less “blood” you will shed on proposals…losing them, that is. This includes knowing the customer's hot bullets and preferences, understanding their requirements, and being familiar with their environment. You can’t know every customer…so number 2 above is even more important because of this aspect. familiarizing yourself with local regulations.

HELPFUL RESOURCES:
A. Competitive Intelligence Tools: We built FedPipeline and FPDSplus to fill in some of the gaps on competitive intelligence. For 2024, we’ve added data visualization and data analysis features that answer key business development and capture questions regarding contracts, agencies, competitors and more. Visit www.fpdsplus.com for free access or subscribe to www.fedpipeline.com for the complete application (including GovCon CRM).

B. Curated Market Intelligence: This is our new premier business development support program for 2024. Curated - or customized for your company; Market - we look at markets, not just customers; Intelligence - more than pipelines, but actions, updates and insighst that informs your business development and fuels your captures. 

C. Past Performance Qualification: Prior to the release of the Alliant 3 FINAL RFP, companies have started organizing their past performance, gathering contract documents and developing their scoring sheets. The complete proposal with Relevant Experience Projects and Emerging Technology Projects is a large (and daunting) task. We can help with resources, and processes that have been refined from developing dozens of these objective points-based MAC proposals over the last five years.