A Bid Intelligence Report is built entirely from public federal records. This guide walks through its sections in the report's own order and explains what its numbers mean.
How to read the report
The report opens with a "How to read this report" page. It suggests starting with the Executive Decision Brief, then Decision Quality, then the incumbent, competitor and buyer sections, then pricing, labor rates and funding, and finishing with the win themes and risk register. Every section opens with what it tells you and what to do with it. The generation date is in the footer of every page.
Reading the numbers
- Dollar figures are award values, not bid prices, unless a table says hourly.
- A percentage labelled "share" is a portion of a total. Competed share is not a win rate.
- Every count comes from the public record. If the record is silent, the report says "not disclosed" rather than guessing.
The recommendation and its evidence
Executive Decision Brief. The recommendation on whether to pursue, with the reasons for and against, all drawn from the rest of the report. If you disagree with a reason, check the section it came from.
Decision Quality. How much of the report rests on disclosed facts, how much is inferred from patterns, and what to confirm before you commit money. Treat the items under "Confirm before pursuit" as your first phone calls. A limited confidence rating means the public record is thin, not that the opportunity is weak.
Market Win Prior. A starting-point estimate of how many bidders to expect and what a typical bidder's odds look like, based on how many offers comparable awards at this agency received. Use it to set expectations, not to decide. Your real odds depend on your past performance, price, team and relationships, none of which the public record can see.
The incumbent, the competitors and the buyer
Incumbent Displacement Card. Who holds the contract today, how long they have worked at this agency in this line of work, when the contract ends, and how it was originally competed. Confirm the end date and any remaining options with the contracting office. A head-to-head view shows where one firm's wins began after another's stopped, which is not proof that anyone was unseated.
Buyer Dossier. How the agency has bought this work over the last three years: spending, how concentrated the field is, how often it awards without competition, and named contacts. A high sole-source share means relationships matter more than price. Contacts come from published notices, so confirm they are current.
Competitor Cards. The largest ten firms by obligated dollars at this agency and NAICS code, not the whole field. Each card gives the firm's agency count, share of the buyer's dollars, competed share and presence on the subject contract's vehicle. Give less weight to a firm flagged as thin history.
Timing, funding and price
Pipeline Signals. Other contracts here ending in 3 to 18 months, plus open notices and forecasts. A higher score means better capture timing with more evidence. An end date does not guarantee a recompete.
Funding Alignment. Whether the money behind this work is growing or shrinking. Neither a headwind nor a tailwind predicts this award.
Pricing Benchmark. What comparable awards at this agency were worth. Most land between the 25th and 75th percentiles. These are total award values, not bid prices or labor rates.
Competitor pricing posture. Whether each competitor's typical award size runs below, near or above the market middle. It describes award size, not price: scope, duration and staffing are not normalized. A firm that runs low is a possible price competitor, not a known one.
Labor Rate Table (CALC+). Hourly ceiling rates for the roles this work likely needs. They are maximum rates on GSA contracts, not rates paid on this award.
Protests, teaming, themes and risks
Protest Risk. How often awards here are challenged at GAO, how often challenges succeed, and whether the incumbent has protested here before.
Teaming Map. Subcontractors the incumbent has paid on this contract, and other primes active at this buyer. The primes list shows who works there, not who has teamed.
Strategic Win Themes and Risk Register. Drafts for your bid team. Keep only the themes you can prove, and assign an owner to every critical and high risk before you decide to bid.
When data is missing or a section fails
The report keeps three situations apart:
- No data: a section appears only when the public record supports it. Thin data means the section is left out, not guessed at.
- A section failed: a notice above the Executive Decision Brief says "Some sections could not be computed from public data" and names them.
- No written narrative: when the written text could not be traced to the facts, the section shows facts-only text from the public record and says so.
Data notes and glossary
The last pages hold the data notes and the glossary. Automated checks compare the report against itself and the calendar, and the data notes list what they found. A warning is context. An error means a number should be read with care. If the subject contract's end date has passed, read the report as a review of what happened rather than a plan.
The glossary defines each term the report uses.