Consistently winning $4B+ contracts

High stakes, stiff competition.

A leading aerospace and defense company contracts with the US government to develop, build, and manufacture military equipment. They have partnered with the US Department of Defense (DoD) on projects with budgets from $50 million to over $4 billion and have a robust system in place to respond to government Request for Proposals (RFPs), helping them to continue securing new contracts.

Despite being a consistent government vendor, there is significant competition for potential billion-dollar government contracts. Once the company receives a Request for Proposal for any given project, the engineers are asked to quickly build proposals based on data, substantiating their arguments with pricing estimates, contract length, bill of materials, and other terms. Responses to RFPs need to be accurate and affordable, to compete with other companies’ price estimates

The Problem

The Client
World leader in aerospace and defense

Users
Engineers on Business Capture Teams responding to large scale government Requests for Proposals

In addition to working with strict time constraints, the company must submit a proposal that is accurately priced at a competitive cost. Engineers at the company are under immense pressure to develop proposals based on real data. They must defend their claims against one another – and against the board of executives – risking their credibility and position at the company if they cannot back up their projections with data. Presidents and chief executives choose a proposal based on the engineers’ defense and submit this to the government RFP. If the company puts forth a proposal that is inaccurate, too costly or late, they will lose millions, if not billions of dollars in revenue and risk their reputation with the Department of Defense – whom they already contract with on other projects.

In summary, the Request for Proposals process presents the following challenges:

• Short timeframe: 35-60 days to complete an RFP
• The government is requiring Firm/Fixed Price contracts which pose challenges when coupled with current supply chain issues and parts shortages
• The DoD has data for costs and unit costs; if the company does not align on this data, they’re deemed “unaffordable” and they lose the contract
• Without strong supporting data, they risk overshooting the price and losing the contract, or undershooting the price and taking a loss on the project
• It is time consuming and difficult to find quality parts at competitive prices
• They risk their reputation if they submit proposals without substantiating data
• Individual engineers risk their credibility and their positions at the company if their proposal is not accurate and backed with real data

The Solution

The company is using Haystack Gold, an Accuris solution, to source accurate data for their bids.

Haystack Gold is the leading defense parts and logistics management system providing the most current pricing, technical and availability data on 1B+ part references in 70+ interconnected databases. Users access secure current and historical data (dating back to the 1960s) on Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corp military equipment parts and suppliers. Engineers design, optimize, and maintain defense systems worldwide using the Haystack platform.

With Haystack Gold

• The engineering team finds information on the price their competition is likely to bid at. From these reports, executives see what the competition is likely to do, and counter this with the price their engineers have calculated that is required to win.
• The company determines a level of certainty and accuracy early on with the right data, this way they can optimize their proposed plan and submit the best design at the right price
• Engineers can find realistic cost data with substantiating evidence to decide on materials, parts, and manufacturers based on accurate projections
• The team can collaborate with the DoD on cost analysis because they have strong supporting data around target characteristics

The Results

When the company submits proposals based on accurate data, they win business, cut costs, and build trusted relationships with their government clients.

With Haystack, the company:

• Won over $42B in contracts in 2021
• Set records winning over $36B in contractswiththeUSGovernment 2 years in a row
• Ranked 1st on the US Government Contractor list, acquiring 10% of all government defense spending in a single year

“Can’t stress enough how important Haystack is for this critical data. These groups are one-person efforts. When they put together data and make a claim that this is what the cost is, this is what you need to win. People often don’t agree with this and then start to really drill into you for evidence. When you a can substantiate it with Haystack data and government data… people will then believe you and you don’t lose credibility.”

– Program Manager

Haystack helps them make decisions they can trust, so they are best positioned to win.

About Accuris

Accuris is an engineering-focused technology company that drives $500MM in annual recurring revenue through AI-powered data and workflow solutions. For over 60 years, engineers have relied on our data and technology to innovate and solve problems, reducing their ideation time by 70% and eliminating product and process failures by up to 5 times.

We work with over 6,000 global customers and 650,000 engineering end users in over 100 countries and dozens of industries – including aerospace and defense, energy, sustainability, construction, architecture and more.

Accuris partners with 400+ Standards Development Organizations to support their non-profit mission, streamlining your access to 2.3 million engineering standards for innovation and progress across the globe. Accuris brings you technology with the knowledge built in – so you can build a better world.