Frequently Asked Questions

We're a fractional federal BD advisory firm for government contractors of all sizes, from first-time federal entrants to established primes looking for their next growth lane.

We work alongside your team on pipeline strategy, capture planning, agency engagement, teaming, and vehicle selection, so you're positioned before the RFP drops instead of scrambling after it. C2 was founded by Chelsea Roberts, who also hosts the GovCon Unscripted podcast.

Government contractors of all sizes. That includes companies pursuing federal work for the first time, firms trying to turn scattered wins into a pipeline they can count on, and established contractors pushing into new agencies or vehicles. Our clients span professional services, engineering, R&D, IT and cybersecurity, electronics and autonomy, software and systems development, and manufacturing and component supply.

Some are primes, some are building toward prime work through teaming, and plenty are doing both at once.

Two things. First, we don't pick your vehicle based on a house thesis. We work the full acquisition landscape, from FAR Part 15 source selections, Part 12 commercial buys, and Part 19 set-asides to GSA MAS, GWACs, IDIQs, OTAs, BAAs, and CSOs, and we match the pathway to the mission and the buyer.

Second, we tie every piece of outreach to what your target decision-maker is actually accountable for, pulled from agency budget documents and Congressional testimony. In our experience, a generic capability statement is invisible to a federal buyer, and one written around their mission problem is what gets you the meeting.

Our consultants are distributed throughout the country and we work with clients nationwide. Our advisory work runs virtually, so where you're headquartered doesn't limit what we can do together.

Yes, where it's appropriate. We use AI to streamline our operations and enhance our deliverables, so more of your engagement goes to strategy and less to busywork.

Our consultants direct the work and review everything before it reaches you. Every factual claim still traces back to a primary source like SAM.gov, USASpending.gov, the FAR, or agency budget documents.

You're a good fit if you already deliver real capability, you've got budget and leadership time to invest in federal growth, and you're ready to treat BD as a discipline rather than a side project. That means you'll make time for a regular strategy cadence, you want honest go/no-go calls even when the answer is no, and you'd rather build a pipeline you understand than chase whatever posted on SAM.gov this morning.

We're not a bid-chasing shop, and we don't do outsourced cold-calling. If the plan is to respond to as many solicitations as possible and hope a few stick, we'll tell you that's an expensive way to lose, and we're probably not the right partner.

Start with where the gap is. If you don't have a federal pipeline yet, or you aren't sure which agencies to chase, the Starter Pack or Foundation gets your targeting, tools, and readiness in place.

If you've got real pursuits but not enough hands to run capture, Growth puts C2 inside the work alongside your team. If you need someone making BD leadership decisions with you every week and overseeing captures through proposal, that's Accelerator.

Need help with one specific problem instead of an ongoing engagement? Our hourly and project-based options cover that. Not sure which path fits? That's what the free consultation is for, and we'll tell you if a smaller engagement is the smarter first step.

Yes. Our Federal BD Starter Pack is a one-time, fixed-fee engagement built to give you clarity on where to focus before you commit to anything ongoing. From there, our Foundation tier builds the internal structure, market focus, and readiness framework you need to pursue work consistently.

What we'll ask of you is commitment. Federal sales cycles are long, and the companies that win are the ones that keep showing up.

Usually not with a GSA Schedule. Commercial firms with a technology the government needs often get in faster through a Commercial Solutions Opening, a BAA, or an OT prototype project, where a strong solution brief can matter more than years of federal past performance. Your status as a nontraditional defense contractor can be an advantage on OT work.

We'll map which programs have the problem you solve, which pathway they actually use to buy, and what the first submission needs to look like, then help you write it.

Yes, and move fast. On a FAR Part 15 competitive award, your written request for a debriefing has to reach the agency within three days of your award notice (FAR 15.506), and a late request can cost you the debrief and the protest timing that comes with it. We'll help you frame the request and your questions so the debrief actually tells you something.

Then we'll look at why it slipped: capture, positioning, pricing, or the proposal itself. If a protest might be on the table, we'll tell you to call a GovCon attorney immediately, because protest deadlines are tighter than most teams expect and we're advisors, not lawyers.

Plan for it before it happens. Once you're other than small in your primary NAICS codes, the set-aside work you've relied on stops being yours to compete for, and full-and-open competition is a different game.

We'll help you sort which revenue is exposed, where you can still compete as small under other NAICS codes, which teaming moves keep you in the room, and which unrestricted vehicles and agencies fit your capabilities. The companies that handle this well start the pivot a year or two before they cross the line.

Your target agencies (or your best guess), the contract vehicles you hold, what you've bid in the last year and how it went, and what you want federal revenue to look like. A capability statement helps too.

The more specific you are, the more useful the conversation gets. We'll tell you plainly where we'd start and whether C2 is the right fit.

You get senior federal BD strategy and hands-on execution without hiring a full-time BD executive. We plug into your team, run the cadence, build the pipeline and capture outputs, and coach your people along the way.

How much we execute versus what your internal team owns depends on the tier you choose. Either way, we're building capability that stays with your company after the call ends.

Yes. Depending on tier, capture support includes qualification notes, shaping plans, pursuit summaries, and bi-weekly pursuit reviews that document momentum and risk. At the Accelerator level, we add mid-to-late stage capture oversight and a proposal strategy pack covering win themes and compliance alignment.

By the time the solicitation drops, you should already know whether you're bidding and why you'll win.

We map the full sphere of influence around a requirement, not just the contracting office. That includes program managers, technical leads, small business offices, and the end users whose mission is on the line.

Our Federal Stakeholder Engagement Map and Visibility and Events Plan turn that map into targeted outreach, with every message tied to the buyer's mission priorities.

Yes. Teaming is often the fastest way into a new agency or onto a vehicle you don't hold yet. Our Partnering and Pathways Assessment looks at where you should prime, where you should sub, and which partners strengthen a bid instead of just filling a slot on the org chart.

The full spectrum. On the FAR side, that's Part 15 source selections, Part 12 commercial acquisitions, Part 19 small business set-asides and sole-source programs, GSA MAS, GWACs, and agency IDIQs and task orders. On the non-traditional side, it's Other Transaction agreements, Broad Agency Announcements, Commercial Solutions Openings, and other rapid acquisition mechanisms.

We recommend the pathway that fits the mission and the buyer, not the one we happen to like best.

Maybe. Too many contractors spend months getting onto MAS only to sit there with no task orders, because a schedule is a hunting license and nobody told them to go hunt.

We look at whether your target agencies actually buy through MAS, who you'd be competing against, and whether another vehicle or a teaming path gets you revenue faster. If MAS is the right move, we'll build your positioning around how those agencies actually buy.

Because they can get a capable company in the door faster, and a lot of competitors still don't know how to use them. These pathways tend to weigh technical merit and mission fit heavily, which opens doors for newer entrants and gives established firms a faster route to prototype and production work.

That said, we don't push them where they don't fit. When a FAR-based vehicle is the better play, we'll tell you.

You'll have an assigned C2 lead, matched to the work you've engaged us for. Depending on the engagement, that's a BD consultant who runs your strategy and pipeline cadence, a proposal manager who owns a pursuit from kickoff through submission, or an acquisition SME who brings deep experience in a specific pathway, agency, or contract type.

Plenty of clients work with more than one of them over the course of an engagement. Your lead is your first call, and they bring in whoever else the work needs.

We match on your target agencies, the vehicles and pathways you're pursuing, and where you are in the BD lifecycle. A company writing its first OT solution brief needs a different lead than one managing a GWAC recompete, and we staff to that difference.

The intake questionnaire you complete during onboarding is what drives the match, so the more candid you are there, the better the fit.

Yes, your assigned lead stays with you so context doesn't reset every few months. When a pursuit calls for something specialized, like a proposal manager for a large submission or an SME for a particular agency, that person joins alongside your lead rather than replacing them.

Every tier runs on a set cadence. Foundation clients get quarterly strategy sessions and bi-weekly coaching, Growth clients get bi-weekly pursuit review reports, and Accelerator clients get weekly strategic sync summaries that document decisions and progress.

Between those touchpoints, your lead is reachable directly, and nothing important waits for the next scheduled call.

Because federal BD runs on the government's calendar, not yours or ours. Agencies plan buys against a fiscal year that starts October 1, forecasts and sources sought notices surface months ahead of a solicitation, and the shaping that wins happens before the RFP ever posts. In our experience, a three-month engagement tends to end right when the work starts paying off.

Every tier engagement runs on PPO (Position, Pursue, Optimize), and the 12 months map to those three phases.

Each phase closes with a gate review, where we measure progress against evidence rather than the calendar. If you need something shorter, the Starter Pack, proposal support, and our flexible options below don't carry the 12-month minimum.

All three tiers run the same PPO structure. The difference is who does the work: in Foundation, C2 builds the system and coaches your team to run it; in Growth, we work live pursuits alongside you; in Accelerator, we act as your BD leadership.

Yes. Not every company needs a year-long engagement, and some need one specific problem solved now.

• Hourly advisory blocks: prepaid blocks of consultant time for strategy calls, document reviews, go/no-go decisions, or a second opinion on a pursuit.

• Project-based work (time and materials): defined efforts like a sources sought or RFI response, a teaming partner search, market research on a specific agency, or an independent Red Team review, billed against an agreed estimate.

• Per-pursuit proposal support: scoped to a single solicitation (see Proposal Writing and Management).

Hourly and project work solve a defined problem. They don't include pipeline ownership or ongoing capture management, which is what the tiers are built for.

Tier engagements are retainer-based, priced by tier, with a 12-month minimum. The Federal BD Starter Pack is a one-time fixed fee. Proposal support is scoped per pursuit, and hourly blocks and project work are priced by scope.

We scope every engagement on a consultation call so the option matches where your company actually is, not where a package page assumes it is. Book a free consultation and we'll talk numbers.

We can usually get started within two weeks of signing. Onboarding starts with a detailed intake questionnaire covering your capabilities, target markets, current vehicles, and BD maturity.

We use it to build your client profile and engagement plan and to assign your C2 lead, then hold a kickoff with your leadership team so everyone's working from the same targets from week one.

A pipeline you can defend, go/no-go decisions made on evidence, and pursuits that start well before the RFP. Most of the clients we've worked with over the years have gone on to win federal contracts.

We won't promise a win, because no honest advisor can. We will make sure every bid you submit is one you chose on purpose. You can read what clients say about working with us on our Testimonials page.

Chelsea Roberts was nominated for Best Up and Coming Journalist at the inaugural 2026 Echo Awards for her work hosting GovCon Unscripted. The Echo Awards honor excellence in public sector journalism and are run by a host committee of public sector communications firms.

She's also ranked No. 24 on The Difference LLC's 2026 list of 100 Makers and Innovators in Government Contracting.

Chelsea speaks regularly at industry events on the acquisition topics that matter most to the contractors we serve.

It's Chelsea's podcast on what's actually happening in federal contracting. She talks through acquisition policy shifts, agency behavior, and BD strategy with practitioners, minus the polished conference-panel script. Listen to GovCon Unscripted here.

Our resources include the GovCon Unscripted podcast, our free GovCon Growth Toolkit, AI prompt guides for BD, growth strategy, and federal marketing, a Sources Sought Response Builder, our blog, and our LinkedIn community.

Call (888) 510-0626 or book a free consultation through the form on our Contact page. You can also follow Collaborative Compositions on LinkedIn for commentary and episode drops.