How to Make Every Government Debrief Count

You spent weeks, or maybe months, chasing a must-win opportunity. Now, the verdict is in. Whether you won or lost, your first instinct might be to move on quickly—but not so fast; government debriefs are one of the most unused yet powerful tools in your capture and proposal arsenal.

Handled correctly, a debrief gives you more than feedback. Debriefs can provide clarity, insight, and a competitive edge for your proposal. Unfortunately, many companies treat debriefs as checkbox activities or miss the opportunity to dig beneath the surface.

Debrief Mastery: Your Value Extraction Checklist

Consider using this 12-point checklist to turn every debrief into a growth engine.

1. Request the debrief promptly: Submit your request within three days of notification. For losses, ask for a face-to-face or virtual meeting to ask follow-up questions.
2. Prepare thoughtful questions: Avoid generic queries. Ask why your proposal was rated as it was and what differentiated the winner. Use Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR)-based language to formulate questions.
3. Bring your A-Team: Include your capture manager, proposal manager, project manager, and solution lead. They’ll hear nuances and ask for technical follow-ups.
4. Keep emotion out of it: Stay composed. Your goal is to gather data, not debate the decision—even if you plan to file a protest later.
5. Record insights in a central location: Summarize feedback in your lessons-learned database. Include ratings, evaluator comments, and any quotes that indicate evaluator priorities or preferences.
6. Compare feedback with your self-assessment: Did your internal review align with the evaluator’s comments? If not, recalibrate the color team’s instructions and scoring techniques.
7. Look for trends across debriefs: One debrief is helpful, but five debriefs reveal how the customer scores your proposals.
8. Use insights to recalibrate your strategies: Adjust capture strategies, solutioning approaches, or proposal content based on repeated weaknesses or missed strengths.
9. Don’t ignore positive feedback: Even in a loss, the government may validate parts of your proposal. Incorporate those strengths in your next bid.
10. Follow up when appropriate: Submit a clarifying question if something is unclear or incorrect. Ensure your tone is professional and inquisitive.
11. Share key takeaways with the broader team: Brief your business development, capture, proposal, and subject matter expert teams so they can apply the lessons learned. Also, consider presenting relevant lessons learned at kickoff meetings. 
12. Consider using GenAI to spark your thinking about debriefs: Generative AI (GenAI) can help formulate questions, analyze debrief notes, identify recurring themes across multiple debriefs, and suggest strategic improvements to your capture and proposal processes.

GenAI can also simulate evaluator perspectives, helping your team anticipate how future submissions might be scored. By combining human insight with AI-powered analysis, you may gain a clearer picture of how to improve and win.

The Real Win: Continuous Improvement

A win tells you what worked. A loss tells you what to improve. Either way, the debrief is a gift if you know how to receive it. At Lohfeld Consulting, we’ve seen clients turn feedback from a failed proposal into a winning strategy on the rebid. Your future wins are hiding in your past feedback. Make the debrief more than a meeting—make it your strategy accelerator. If you want more information about Lohfeld Consulting, contact us.

Relevant Information

• What you can expect from a government debriefing

• Get the Most Out of Your Contract Debriefing

• VIDEO: Proposal Management for Federal Contractors

By Brenda Crist, Vice President at Lohfeld Consulting Group, MPA, CPP APMP Fellow

Lohfeld Consulting Group has proven results specializing in helping companies create winning captures and proposals. As the premier capture and proposal services consulting firm focused exclusively on government markets, we provide expert assistance to government contractors in Capture Planning and Strategy, Proposal Management and Writing, Capture and Proposal Process and Infrastructure, and Training. In the last 3 years, we’ve supported over 550 proposals winning more than $170B for our clients—including the Top 10 government contractors. Lohfeld Consulting Group is your “go-to” capture and proposal source! Start winning by contacting us at www.lohfeldconsulting.com and join us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube^(TM).