Ask any agency small-business specialist or prime contractor what they want from a new vendor, and the answer is the same: "send me your capability statement." This one-page document is your federal business card — and most of them are terrible. Here's how to make yours get read.
What a capability statement is (and isn't)
It's a one-page summary of who you are, what you do, and why a buyer should trust you. It is not a brochure, a history of your company, or a place for your mission statement. Buyers sort through dozens at every matchmaking event; anything that isn't immediately useful gets skipped.
The structure that works
- Header: logo, legal name, UEI, CAGE code, NAICS codes, set-aside certifications. This block answers the buyer's first three questions without reading.
- Core competencies: three to five bullets, in buyer language. "Sitework and utility construction for federal and institutional facilities" — not "we do everything."
- Differentiators: licenses, insurance limits, bonding capacity (aggregate and per-job), certifications, safety record (EMR), specialized equipment.
- Past performance: two to four projects — client, scope, value, completion date, verifiable reference.
- Contact: the person who answers quickly, with direct phone and email.
What separates the good ones
- One page, always. Two pages gets set aside — literally.
- Numbers over adjectives. "Bonded to $5M aggregate" beats "fully capable." "EMR 0.78" beats "safety-focused."
- Codes visible in the header. Buyers search by NAICS and set-aside category; make them findable in two seconds.
- Tailored when possible. Reorder competencies per buyer. The same one-pager goes everywhere, but the top bullets shift.
Formatting rules
- PDF for sending, Word for editing — PDFs never break formatting.
- Keep fonts legible at print size; buyers print these for file folders.
- Update after every new project, certification, and insurance renewal. A stale capability statement lies about your capacity.
Get the template: our capability statement template includes the exact sections above — and the Fast Start Workshop builds yours as part of Day 1.