Capture management is the disciplined process of preparing to win a government contract before the Request for Proposal (RFP) is released. It covers customer engagement, competitive intelligence,, win strategy, teaming, solution development, price to win, pricing strategy, and proposal preparation. 

Capture management helps organizations to improve their probability of winning (P-Win) the federal contracts they decide to bid. It allows them to focus and continue to strengthen their offering through continuous customer feedback and scanning of the competitive landscape. Ultimately, capture management saves companies money. Focusing investments on and high P-win opportunities and no-bidding lower value, less strategic opportunities, enables long-term sustainable growth.  

Capture management is the disciplined process of preparing to win a government contract before the solicitation or Request for Proposal (RFP) is released. It covers customer engagement, competitive intelligence, win strategy, teaming, solution development, price to win, pricing strategy, and proposal preparation. 

Most major contracts are won or lost before the RFP drops. Without capture, teams risk chasing opportunities they cannot win, burning through capture, and bid and proposal (B&P) budgets, and lowering their P-Win. Effective capture management improves win rates and ensures resources are spent on the right pursuits. 

Key activities include: 

• Building customer and partner relationships. 
• Gathering competitive intelligence. 
• Developing a price-to-win strategy. 
• Aligning solutions and messaging with customer priorities. 
• Leading cross-functional teams through the pre-RFP and RFP process. 

Proposal managers  lead the proposal development process once the RFP is released, and heavily rely on good capture groundwork in the pre-RFP stage.

They work hand in hand with the capture manager to ensure the proposal is customer-focused, compliant, and aligned with win strategy developed earlier in the pre-RFP phase.. 

Any contractor pursuing government contracts benefits from it. Small and mid-sized firms often lack in-house expertise or bandwidth, while large enterprises bring in outside experts to strengthen high-value pursuits. 

Our team has led captures that secured more than $5 billion in federal contracts across defense and civilian agencies. We apply that same process-driven expertise to every client engagement. 

The Peerless Group is headquartered in the National Capital Area and works with US-based contractors nationwide.

If you’re pursuing contracts over $10M, struggling with low win rates, or need to build a healthier pipeline, capture management is essential. You can start by downloading our free Capture Assessment Cheat Sheet to gauge your maturity. 

Design thinking is a problem-solving approach that focuses on understanding the customer’s needs, testing ideas quickly, and refining solutions based on feedback. In capture management, it helps teams uncover customer priorities, pain points, and hot buttons earlier, leading to stronger win strategies. 

 

These workshops bring together cross-functional teams to explore customer challenges, brainstorm solutions, and map capabilities to mission outcomes. For contractors, they accelerate insight-gathering, align technical experts with business developers, and generate differentiated win themes for proposals. 

 

AI helps capture teams by analyzing large volumes of procurement data, tracking competitor moves, and predicting trends. It can surface hidden opportunities, shorten research time, and support smarter price-to-win analysis. AI is not a replacement for capture expertise, but it is a powerful tool to increase speed and accuracy. 

 

Most firms treat capture and marketing as separate. Peerless integrates them so every touchpoint, from your website to your proposal, tells the same story. That consistency builds customer trust and strengthens your P-Win. A strong website, clear messaging, and compelling assets make it easier for customers, evaluators, and partners to understand your value. When marketing supports capture, your proposals are backed by thought leadership, credibility, and a consistent story. 

 

Government buyers look for low-risk partners. Outdated websites, inconsistent messaging, or missing past-performance assets send the wrong signal. Better marketing positions you as a credible, capable choice. Clear capability statements, modern websites, and aligned messaging help evaluators and partners trust that you can deliver. 

 

While The Peerless Group has excellent proposal writers on staff who can craft polished, crisp, and compliant proposals, capture management involves so much more than just writing. 

Think of it this way: hiring a proposal writer without capture is like hiring a chef without telling them what type of cuisine the restaurant serves, where it’s located, the price point, or the clientele’s preferences. Capture management defines the win strategy (the story, the pricing, the positioning, and the customer understanding) so the proposal has the right ingredients to win. 

In short, capture is about strategy; proposal writing is about execution. You need both to win consistently. 

Yes, that’s one of our specialties. 

At The Peerless Group, customer engagement isn’t an afterthought, it’s the foundation of effective capture management. Over the past 20+ years, we’ve built deep relationships across the federal landscape, from civilian and defense agencies to the national security community. 

No firm has every relationship, but the odds are high that we already know your customer or can get to them through our trusted network of consultants, many of whom are recently retired government executives and program leaders. 

When requested, we also act as an extension of your business development team, meeting directly with your customers, shaping opportunities early, and ensuring your message lands with the right people at the right time. 

Yes. While our core focus is capture management, many of our clients (especially small and mid-sized businesses) prefer the continuity of having the same trusted team handle both capture and proposal management. 

That’s why The Peerless Group includes an experienced and dependable team of proposal managers, writers, and graphic artists who can seamlessly carry your capture strategy through to a winning proposal. 

You get the best of both worlds: strategic capture support backed by strong proposal execution, all from one integrated team that already knows your customer, your message, and your story. 

Yes. We have a team of experienced solution architects and subject matter experts (SMEs) who bridge the gap between business development, capture, and technical delivery. 

Our architects bring hands-on experience designing solutions for complex federal missions across IT, engineering, and professional services. They collaborate closely with your internal SMEs to translate customer requirements into compelling, feasible, and differentiated approaches that strengthen your overall win strategy. 

Unlike firms that treat “solutioning” as an afterthought, The Peerless Group integrates design thinking workshops and AI-enabled solution development to help teams rapidly generate, test, and refine innovative solutions during the capture process, long before the RFP drops. 

The result? Solutions that are both technically sound and strategically positioned to win.