Questions we hear every week.

A contract vehicle is a pre-competed contract — a GSA Schedule, a government-wide vehicle such as OASIS+ or ASTRO, or an agency IDIQ such as MDA SHIELD or the Army’s RS3/MAPS — that agencies use to buy quickly through task orders. An ever-larger share of federal services spending is routed through these vehicles. If your company is not on the vehicle, you cannot compete for the work, no matter how good you are.

HTRO is the evaluation approach our CEO created for OASIS. Instead of narrative proposals judged subjectively, offerors claim points on a scorecard for verifiable qualifications — relevant projects, systems, certifications, past performance — and the government verifies each claim and awards to the highest-scoring offerors. It has since become the model for OASIS+, ASTRO, Alliant and most large agency vehicles. RPG’s principals designed the scorecards and ran the verifications, which is why we know exactly how they are graded.

Yes. OASIS+ accepts submissions on a continuous, open-season basis rather than a single closing date. The work is choosing the right domains and socioeconomic pool, selecting the qualifying projects that score highest, and documenting every point so it survives verification. After award there are onboarding obligations — reporting, training and marketing to ordering offices — that determine whether the contract actually produces revenue.

Holding the vehicle is the start, not the finish. Task orders on SHIELD, RS3 and their successors are competed among the awardees, often with short turnarounds and scorecard- or oral-presentation-based evaluations. We help you read each order’s evaluation approach, decide quickly whether to bid, shape the response to the criteria and rehearse for orals and technical challenges. We also position you for MAPS, the $50 billion Army marketplace replacing RS3 and ITES-3S.

Yes. Phase III allows an agency to award follow-on work that derives from SBIR/STTR-funded effort without further competition. The usual barrier is a contracting officer who has never issued one. We build the derivation case, draft the justification the way a contracting officer needs to read it, and identify where the award can be placed.

Either. We develop full submissions for scorecard and HTRO-evaluated solicitations, and we review drafts your team has prepared — pink, red and gold team reviews and line-by-line scorecard verification — scored the way the government will score them. Most clients start with a review and a candid projected score.

Most of our clients are small and mid-sized businesses. OASIS+, ASTRO and the agency vehicles all have socioeconomic pools and teaming rules, and we advise on joint ventures, mentor-protégé arrangements and subcontracting structures that evaluators will credit.

A principal. RPG deliberately takes on a limited number of companies at a time, and every engagement is led personally by Todd Richards, Valerie Bindel or Clint McCoy — the people who created and ran OASIS and ASTRO.

Each engagement is scoped to the vehicle, the deadline and the work involved — a single proposal review, a full submission, a task-order capture program or an ongoing advisory retainer. Contact us with the basics and we will give you a candid assessment and a proposal.

RPG works with clients nationwide, virtually and on-site. Training and executive briefings can be delivered remotely or at your location.