---
title: "Positioning for recompetes: an 18-month capture plan"
canonical: "https://teamingindex.com/knowledge/positioning-for-recompetes"
lastReviewed: "2026-11-08"
markdown_url: "https://teamingindex.com/knowledge/positioning-for-recompetes.md"
topic: "Capture & proposals"
summary: "How to find expiring contracts in USAspending.gov award data, read the incumbent’s position, shape the requirement through market research, and time your capture from 18 months out to proposal submission."
---
# Positioning for recompetes: an 18-month capture plan

> How to find expiring contracts in USAspending.gov award data, read the incumbent’s position, shape the requirement through market research, and time your capture from 18 months out to proposal submission.

- Topic: Capture & proposals
- Last reviewed: 2026-11-08
- Canonical URL: https://teamingindex.com/knowledge/positioning-for-recompetes

A **recompete** is a new competition for work that an incumbent is already performing under a contract that is ending. Recompetes are the most predictable opportunities in federal contracting: the requirement exists, the funding history is public and the end date is in the award record. They are also the easiest to lose by starting late. Agencies plan acquisitions well before the current contract ends (FAR Part 7), and by the time a solicitation is released the requirement, the evaluation criteria and often the customer's preferences are largely set.

## Find the recompetes worth chasing

Federal award data tells you most of what you need before you ever talk to the customer. On USAspending.gov, an award record shows:

- **Period of performance**: the current end date and the potential end date if all options are exercised
- **Obligations**: how much has actually been spent, and the trend year over year
- **The incumbent**: the recipient's name and UEI, which leads to its registration, size and other awards
- **Classification**: NAICS and product or service codes, the awarding and funding agencies, and the set-aside type
- **Competition details**: such as the extent of competition and, where reported, the number of offers received
- **Subawards**: first-tier subcontracts the prime reported under FAR 52.204-10

> **Watch out:** End dates move. Options may not be exercised, the Government may extend services (many service contracts include FAR 52.217-8, which allows extensions of up to six months), and short bridge contracts are common when a recompete runs late. Track the record and the customer's signals, not one date.

## Read the incumbent's position

Contractor performance evaluations in CPARS are not public, so you will not read the incumbent's ratings. You can still assemble a fair picture:

- **Scope growth or decline** in contract modifications and obligations
- **Size and status changes**: an incumbent that grew out of the size standard, graduated from 8(a) or was acquired may not be eligible if the recompete stays set aside (see [NAICS size standards](https://teamingindex.com/knowledge/naics-size-standards))
- **Protest history**: GAO bid protest decisions are public
- **Registration and exclusions**: an expired SAM.gov registration or an exclusion changes everything (see [SAM exclusions and responsibility](https://teamingindex.com/knowledge/sam-exclusions-and-responsibility))
- **Workforce signals**: job postings and turnover for the contract's key positions
- **Customer signals**: questions raised in requests for information, industry days and draft solicitations

Neither "the incumbent is entrenched" nor "the incumbent is vulnerable" is a strategy. Find evidence for one or the other before you commit bid and proposal money.

## Shape the requirement while you still can

FAR 15.201 encourages exchanges with industry from the earliest identification of a requirement through receipt of proposals, and FAR Part 10 makes market research a required step. That is your window:

- Answer **sources sought notices and RFIs** with a focused capability response; they help decide whether the work is set aside and what it requires (see [capability statements](https://teamingindex.com/knowledge/capability-statements)).
- Attend **industry days** and use one-on-one sessions to understand the customer's problems, not to pitch.
- Comment on **draft solicitations**: ambiguous requirements and unrealistic evaluation criteria are easier to fix before the final RFP.

## A capture timeline

These are planning norms, not rules; scale them to the size and complexity of the contract.

| Before the current end date | Focus |
| --- | --- |
| 18 to 12 months | Identify and qualify the opportunity at a bid/no-bid gate; map the customer, the incumbent and the likely set-aside; start teaming conversations |
| 12 to 6 months | Shape: respond to RFIs and sources sought, attend industry day, brief the customer on capabilities, sign teaming agreements, start the solution |
| 6 to 3 months | Review the draft RFP, build the [compliance matrix](https://teamingindex.com/knowledge/building-a-compliance-matrix) outline, set price-to-win and secure key personnel commitments |
| RFP release to due date | Write, review and submit (see [the proposal process](https://teamingindex.com/knowledge/proposal-development-process)) |

## Build a team that beats the incumbent

A challenger has to offer the customer a lower-risk path to a better outcome. That usually means:

- A **transition plan** that shows how you will keep the mission running from day one, including how you will recruit the incumbent workforce where the customer wants continuity
- **Partners who close your gaps**: past performance with this customer, the clearance or CMMC level the work requires, small business status for a set-aside, or a technical discriminator
- **Proof**: metrics from similar work, not adjectives (see [past performance](https://teamingindex.com/knowledge/past-performance-that-wins))

## Recompete checklist

- [ ] Confirm current and potential end dates, options and any extension clauses
- [ ] Chart obligations by year and compare with the ceiling
- [ ] Check the incumbent's current size, status, registration and exclusions
- [ ] Review reported subawards to see who else is on the team
- [ ] Map the customer's stated problems from RFIs, industry days and drafts
- [ ] Hold a bid/no-bid gate with named decision criteria
- [ ] Sign teaming agreements before the final RFP

## Common pitfalls

- **Starting at RFP release.** By then you are reacting to a requirement others helped shape.
- **Chasing too many recompetes.** A disciplined bid/no-bid gate beats a long pipeline of long shots.
- **Ignoring set-aside changes.** A recompete can move from unrestricted to set-aside, or the other way, based on market research.
- **Underestimating transition.** Customers fear disruption more than they love innovation.

## How TeamingIndex helps

- The [Recompete Radar](https://teamingindex.com/recompete) lists expiring contracts 6 to 18 months ahead by agency, NAICS code, set-aside, incumbent UEI, obligated ceiling and end date, with CSV export.
- Open the incumbent's profile for its vehicles, award history, registration health and compliance credentials, then find challenger partners, for example [verified CMMC Level 2 (C3PAO) companies](https://teamingindex.com/directory?cmmc=L2C3PAO&verified=1).
- Generate a [recompete brief](https://teamingindex.com/intel/new?kind=recompete_brief) grounded in the award facts, then assemble the challenger team in the [Team Builder](https://teamingindex.com/teams).

## Official sources

- [USAspending.gov: award search and award records](https://www.usaspending.gov/)
- [FAR Part 10: Market Research](https://www.acquisition.gov/far/part-10)
- [FAR 15.201: Exchanges with industry before receipt of proposals](https://www.acquisition.gov/far/15.201)
- [FAR 52.217-8: Option to Extend Services](https://www.acquisition.gov/far/52.217-8)
- [SAM.gov: contract opportunities](https://sam.gov/)

Not legal advice. TeamingIndex guides are general information to help you plan, not legal advice. Regulations, clauses and program rules change and solicitations can tailor them: always work from the current regulation and the clauses in your solicitation, and confirm decisions with your contracting officer or counsel.