We Were the Rock in Their Sling
A multi-$B weapon system OEM required capture assessment and market research to defeat a behemoth incumbent.
Whitespace was hired to provide independent market insights to validate reports from nationally known business intelligence firms.
Our data collection process and unique approach to decipher competitive challenges led to timely groundbreaking insights that shaped the capture and proposal development. According to the client, Whitespace uncovered critical market intelligence not reported by national-level firms. The OEM subsequently won a multiple $B 10-year single award contract with critical national security implications. In the end, our contribution was a small rock in a field of boulders… but it helped defeat their Goliath.
Overcoming a String of Repeated Losses
A multi-$B technical services large business lost a $1B competition and its subsequent recompete in pursuit of IT network services work.
Ten years after the first of two failed attempts, the OEM sought out Whitespace to lead the capture and build a novel technical approach to win with what seemed to be an impenetrable agency.
Whitespace built relationships with key federal leaders, developed core insights into customer concerns and long-term objectives, and structured a technical approach that addressed published and implicit customer goals. This capture and proposal support effort led to a winning orals submission for a $1.2B IT support services effort. Everyone said it couldn’t be done, but it was successful because of a radical new tactic… listen to the customer.
Find the Magic Needle in a Haystack
A Fortune 500 technical services provider sought to assess the Total Addressable Market (TAM) for classified procurements in a specific geographic market… without ever accessing classified information.
Could it be done? Whitespace used a broad set of unclassified published open-source intelligence and primary source intelligence to build an unclassified but scarily accurate map of the classified market.
This comprehensive assessment of upcoming classified competitions fit the OEM’s capability mix and were consistent with the OEM’s business growth goals. Capture management strategies for the target market provided initial inputs for the OEM to begin market penetration and customer contact in multiple classified procurements. We found enough breadcrumbs to build a loaf of bread.
Build Me a New Home… and Do it Overnight
A $5B Washington, D.C.-based firm sought to immediately penetrate Huntsville with multiple technical capabilities and intellectual property.
Whitespace assessed the Total Addressable Market for a diverse set of federal customers in that geographic market, with eight capture management vectors to shape future bids.
Capture strategies developed by Whitespace targeted specific opportunities in that market with the engaged involvement of the entire corporation. This outsourced approach using Whitespace as the “face of the company” enabled the client to quickly penetrate the new market without the establishment of an on-site presence. Primary intelligence collection in parallel with the market assessment identified key personnel who were hired to lead the company’s penetration of the market and open an office.
Find Me the Yellowbrick Road… Buried Under a Sea of Mud
A Fortune 500 weapon development OEM sought to capture multiple $B in future weapon system procurements over twenty years through the development of a first of its kind campaign.
Whitespace uncovered a national-level Total Addressable Market that had been successfully hidden through layers and years of budget obfuscation.
Strategies were developed to penetrate nine distinctly different market segments. Those assessments provided the foundation for multiple sectors of the OEM to pursue contract opportunities using Whitespace-derived information. The outsource of this market research and synthesis of strategy preserved the OEM’s internal investment resources and accelerated their campaign. Tens of billions of dollars of uncovered opportunity enabled Whitespace to paint a previously unseen picture of a market that is sustainable for decades. Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
Defeat of a “Forever Incumbent” Through the Power of OTAs
The U.S. subsidiary of a foreign manufacturer required capture management, competitive intelligence, and ITAR support to shape and win a $750M procurement away from a 30+ year incumbent.
Whitespace characterized Navy customer requirements, met with customer representatives, and helped the OEM to shape the procurement to an Other Transactional Authority (OTA) and a subsequent two-company down-select in competition with the 30-year incumbent.
Whitespace educated the client on OTA best practices, developed the technical and management approach, and wrote two proposals, leading to two wins and a subsequent sole-source production decision by the Navy. Whitespace worked successfully within an ITAR-constrained environment using outside expert counsel to place the U.S. subsidiary on a solid path for contract performance. If at first you don’t succeed… try an OTA.
Dream Big… Plan the Work… and Work the Plan
An aggressive small business unmanned system developer sought to penetrate a multi-$B market for the next generation development of a complex airborne weapon. It was a goal beyond any reasonable reach.
Whitespace worked closely with the small business for 66 months to develop a new company vision and set audacious goals to compete and win against entrenched OEM large business primes within the next five years.
Whitespace developed a procurement pipeline, developed multiple winning proposals, established credibility-building past performance, and provided capture/proposal development in support of the creation of a winning OTA solicitation. This long-term vision setting, planning, and capture implementation established the small business as one of eight final competitors in a down-select for the future of mid-size armed UAVs. A determined small business in the finals for a $1B next generation vehicle procurement! Never, never, ever give up in the face of the overwhelming might of the enemy.
Mirror Mirror on the Wall… Who’s the Strongest of Us All?
A multi-$B weapons development OEM sought independent support for primary and secondary intelligence, competitive and customer assessments, and Price To Win (PTW) support for weapon and sustainment programs ranging from $100M to $10B+.
Whitespace sourced more than 100 Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to provide comprehensive understanding of customer concerns and requirements, historic procurement approaches, and perceptions of potential prime contractors.
Whitespace SMEs provided in-depth assessments of strategies, discriminators, potential strengths and weaknesses, and approaches for technical and management solutions. Price-To-Win bases of estimate (BOEs), with associated labor categories, estimated labor resources, and competitive fee projections provided the OEM initial planning information on likely competitive pricing. This outsourced team of SMEs for capture and PTW support, often brought together on short notice, provided a cost-effective winning alternative to the use of internal resources. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Our seven dwarves are great (data) miners.