Co-written by Kris Brinker (Ocean 5 Strategies) and Katie Helwig (Mild Red LLC), OASIS+ Strategists
This article builds on the foundation established in The GovCon Decathlon: 10 Disciplines for OASIS+ Success (co-authored by Kris Brinker, Ocean 5 Strategies, and Katie Helwig, Mild Red LLC). That piece introduced the core disciplines of sustainable growth. Here, we take the next step: connecting those disciplines to best practices for Business Development, Capture, and Teaming in the context of GSA’s OASIS+—a Best-in-Class (BIC) Multiple Award Contract (MAC) that has quickly become a centerpiece of federal acquisition.
But there’s a critical point that can’t be overlooked: marketing is the thread that runs through all three disciplines. It ensures your pipeline isn’t just full, but visible. It transforms pursuit strategies into compelling narratives. And it makes teaming less about convincing and more about attracting the right partners. Without strong marketing, even the most disciplined BD and Capture efforts can stall. With it, OASIS+ becomes not just a contract vehicle, but a growth engine.
Marketing as the Growth Multiplier
In government contracting, winning isn’t just about responding to RFPs—it’s about being known, trusted, and valued before an opportunity drops. Marketing is the discipline that amplifies BD, Capture, and Teaming:
- It builds awareness with agencies, primes, and teaming partners.
- It positions your differentiators in a crowded market.
- It creates consistency across proposals, capability statements, websites, and thought leadership.
Without marketing, BD efforts are scattered, Capture strategies lack visibility, and Teaming opportunities are harder to secure. With marketing integrated, every outreach, partnership, and proposal benefits from a strong brand presence that reinforces credibility.
Think of marketing as the air cover for your GovCon growth strategy. BD and Capture teams move on the ground, building relationships and shaping opportunities, while marketing amplifies their efforts, ensuring you’re always “top of mind.”
Growing in Sophistication: Why BD, Capture, and Teaming Matter
Success in government contracting requires more than just growth in size—it requires growth in sophistication. Companies evolve from “doing it all themselves” to building aligned teams with shared processes, guiding principles, and communication standards.
But sophistication also means market sophistication: understanding how to shape perceptions, align with agency missions, and communicate value consistently. That’s where marketing intersects with BD and Capture.
By applying procurement best practices (e.g., insights from GSA’s OASIS+ Buyer’s Guide) and layering on a marketing strategy that communicates credibility, contractors can build repeatable, scalable engines for growth.
Business Development (BD) = Pipeline Building + Relationships
What it is: The front end of the pipeline—identifying opportunities, building relationships, and positioning early.
Focus Areas:
- Market research and pipeline development
- Agency, prime, and partner engagement
- Shaping opportunities before an RFP exists
- Educating the market on your differentiators
💪 The Marketing Connection:
Marketing is how you educate the market on your differentiators. It ensures that when your BD team reaches out, the agency already recognizes your brand, your past performance, and your mission alignment.
- Digital presence matters. Agencies and primes research your website and LinkedIn long before your first meeting.
- Thought leadership builds credibility. Articles, webinars, and blogs show you understand agency challenges and position you as a trusted advisor.
- Consistent messaging reduces friction. BD decks, one-pagers, and LinkedIn posts should all echo the same value proposition.
Goal: Be in the right place, with the right message, at the right time.
💡 OASIS+ Pro Tips:
- Use the GSA FAS OASIS and HCaTS Dashboard to identify expiring contracts aligned with your capabilities and past performance.
- Don’t overlook IT vehicle transitions: contracts can move to OASIS+ if 51% of the PWS is professional services.
- Build “competi-mate” relationships to gain visibility into domains and CLINs you don’t hold directly.
Capture = Opportunity Pursuit + Strategy to Win
What it is: The disciplined pursuit of a specific opportunity.
Focus Areas:
- Customer needs analysis
- Competitive assessment
- Win and pricing strategies
- Proposal readiness (teaming, solutioning, win themes)
💪 The Marketing Connection:
Capture strategies depend on win themes that resonate. Marketing helps refine those themes into compelling, repeatable messages that agencies recognize.
- Capability statements double as Capture tools when tailored to agency missions.
- Past performance spotlights and case studies build confidence during the capture phase.
- Website updates and LinkedIn presence show momentum, reassuring evaluators and partners.
Goal: Increase PWin by aligning your solution, team, and pricing with what the customer values most.
💡 OASIS+ Pro Tips:
- Track MRAS surveys, which shapes what OASIS+ category (Domain + NAICS) the RFP will leverage. Respond to all relevant MRAS surveys with OASIS+-specific capability statements to strengthen visibility and brand recognition.
- Understand unique OASIS+ features:
- Flexible labor rates (task order–based pricing)
- $250K minimum order threshold
- Predictable 0.15% CAF fee
- One contract category per solicitation
- Streamlined protest process
Do you have what it takes to beat the OASIS+ competition?
Download our free guide: Government Contractor OASIS+ Marketing Best Practices Checklist
Teaming = Aligning with Partners to Strengthen the Bid
What it is: Building partnerships (prime/sub, JV, mentor-protégé) to fill gaps and enhance competitiveness.
Focus Areas:
- Capability and past performance alignment
- Meeting set-aside/socioeconomic requirements
- Partnerships with integrators and niche firms
- Negotiating roles, workshare, and exclusivity
💪 The Marketing Connection:
Teaming is about trust—and trust is built through your reputation and visibility in the market.
- A strong marketing presence (website, awards, press releases) reassures potential partners of your credibility.
- Consistent messaging across joint collateral reduces confusion and builds cohesion.
- Public recognition of partnerships (co-branded thought leadership, announcements) strengthens future teaming opportunities.
Goal: Assemble a team of purpose, not just a roster—every partner fills a defined gap.
💡 OASIS+ Pro Tips:
-
Remember: agencies must select both a master contract and a category. Plan early but remain flexible once the RFP drops.
- Build teaming strategies around customer intimacy, past performance, and complementary OASIS+ holdings.
- Apply the “Secret Sauce” of teaming:
- Be fun to work with (energy and positivity)
- Be reliable (deliver on commitments)
- Be informed (know the mission and domain)
- Be respectful (collaborative professionalism)
Case Study: Business Development, Capture & Teaming in Action (Foundational BD, Capture, Teaming in Action)
Contributed by Marshall Cox, CEO, Craneworks Inc.
- Do you meet security and clearance requirements?
Contractors must do their due diligence to understand the table stakes of government work. After launching a marketing initiative with Ocean 5 Strategies, Craneworks quickly recognized the need to simplify our communications to make it easier for government buyers to qualify us. That meant prominently displaying key information such as UEI, CAGE code, and CMMC certification levels on our website and capabilities statements. By addressing these requirements upfront, we eliminated friction and positioned Craneworks as a low-risk, “easy to do business with” partner. - Do you have relevant past performance?
Government buyers are under pressure and need proof that you can deliver. Generic past performance won’t cut it — it has to be targeted and tied to their mission. Craneworks highlights our expertise and history supporting Navy and Army weight-handling programs, showing not only that we can do the work, but that we understand the operational context. This targeted, relevant storytelling helps contracting officers and program managers see us as a credible, experienced solution provider. - Do you understand the mission and have relationships to influence requirements and acquisition strategies?
Our recent conversations with an Army Program Manager are a case in point. By listening first, we identified a weight-handling need as a bottleneck that could delay deployment of a critical platform. Instead of offering generic services, we brought a niche, turnkey solution supported by Made-in-America vendors and DoD expertise. This positioned Craneworks as a partner who not only understands the mission but is willing to do the legwork to simplify acquisition and support program success. Importantly, we outlined clear next steps and did the upfront legwork to vet options. The Program Manager specifically appreciated that Craneworks reduced friction, making it easier for them to move forward confidently.
Result:
By aligning on these three questions — security/clearance, relevant past performance, and mission understanding — Craneworks has built credibility with DoD stakeholders and demonstrated the teaming value we bring to complex, mission-critical programs.
Case Study Summary
Lessons Learned: Business Development, Capture & Teaming
- Meet Security & Clearance Requirements
Make yourself easy to do business with — highlight UEI, CAGE code, and CMMC level upfront so government buyers can quickly qualify you. - Show Relevant Past Performance
Communicate work that directly ties to the mission — avoid generic examples and prove capability with Navy and Army weight-handling performance. - Understand the Mission & Build Relationships
Understand the customer’s mission and problem. Actively seek to understand how this affects the program mission and your contact personally. This process enabled us to identify weight-handling as a deployment bottleneck and provided a turnkey, Made-in-America, commercially available solution — demonstrating mission understanding and teaming value.
💪 The Marketing Connection:
The Craneworks example underscores how marketing is central to BD, Capture, and Teaming success.
- Reducing friction through clarity. By prominently displaying UEI, CAGE code, and CMMC level on their website and capability statements, Craneworks used
marketing to make government buyers’ jobs easier—communicating compliance and reducing risk perception from the start. - Targeted storytelling builds credibility. Highlighting Navy and Army past performance in a way that directly tied to mission outcomes demonstrated relevance and experience.
- Messaging supports mission intimacy. Craneworks positioned itself not just as a vendor, but as a mission partner.
- Marketing as a teaming enabler. Communicating turnkey, Made-in-America solutions created confidence with both government buyers and teaming partners.
The takeaway? Marketing isn’t just about awareness—it’s about making it easier for agencies and partners to say “yes.”
Case Study: Node.Digital’s Growth Journey (Scaling BD, Capture, Teaming with Partnerships)
Background
Node.Digital is a digital transformation company delivering solutions across automation, AI/ML, and cloud adoption.
Recently recognized as a UiPath Gold Partner, Node.Digital has demonstrated its ability to pair innovation with disciplined growth. With positions on the GSA OASIS+ Small Business (SB) and OASIS+ 8(a) vehicles—both designated as BIC MACs—Node.Digital now has access to one of the federal government’s most strategic platforms for complex, mission-critical services.
Building on a strong past performance history at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of War and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), as well as commercial sector successes modernizing operations with AI for Fortune 500 clients such as Estee Lauder, Reckitt, and Sensigo/Porsche, Node.Digital has established itself as a trusted provider across public and private sectors.
To accelerate expansion into defense, Node.Digital has entered into Mentor-Protégé Agreements with companies that have expertise in IT modernization, cybersecurity, and mission support services. These partnerships equip Node.Digital with the infrastructure and expertise to transition FedCiv and
commercial past performance into the Department of War marketspace.
Business Development & Capture Discipline in Action
Node.Digital demonstrates how disciplined business development (BD) and capture management convert vehicle access, partnerships, and past performance into measurable growth:
Market Focus & Positioning
With DHS, IRS, and commercial past performance as a foundation, Node.Digital sharpened its positioning around digital transformation, automation, and AI/ML. OASIS+ SB and 8(a) status enables Node.Digital to compete directly for complex modernization requirements while leveraging its cross-sector record to win new opportunities.
Strategic Partnerships & Mentor-Protégé
- UiPath Gold Partner: Strengthens credibility in automation and workflow modernization.
- Partnerships with AI technology providers like AWS, Google, Boost, and n8n
- Strategic relationships with large SI’s such as Nightwing, Accenture, Obsidian Global
Targeted Capture Approach
- Aligning win strategies around mission outcomes (efficiency, security, modernization).
- Demonstrating replicable value through PoCs and pilots at DHS, IRS, and in the commercial sector.
- Leveraging Mentor-Protégé resources to meet compliance requirements such as CMMC.
Proposal Discipline
Node.Digital continues to build a structured bid/no-bid framework, targeting OASIS+ opportunities where past performance and partnerships directly strengthen the probability of winning (PWin). This ensures strategic growth without overextending resources.
Mission Outcome
- OASIS+ SB and 8(a) as scalable growth engines.
- FedCiv (DHS, IRS) and commercial successes in establishing credibility across mission-critical modernization programs.
- Strategic teaming as an important component for sustainable growth.
Leadership Perspective
“Our growth journey is about discipline, not chance. With our experience in deploying AI into production and by leveraging OASIS+ SB and 8(a), building on our DHS, IRS, and commercial past performance, and aligning with Obsidian Global LLC under SBA’s Mentor-Protégé Program, Node.Digital is positioned to deliver digital transformation outcomes across civilian, commercial, and defense missions.”
— Prakash Yarlagadda, CEO, Node.Digital
💪 The Marketing Connection:
Node.Digital’s growth story demonstrates the importance of marketing as a multiplier for disciplined BD, Capture, and Teaming:
- Visibility fuels credibility. Recognition as a UiPath Gold Partner and partnerships with AWS, Google, and others aren’t just technical milestones—they are marketing assets.
- Messaging reinforces mission alignment. Content around digital transformation, automation, and AI/ML communicates Node.Digital’s differentiation clearly.
- Thought leadership accelerates trust. Sharing insights positions Node.Digital as an advisor, not just a bidder.
- Public storytelling builds teaming opportunities. Press releases, joint announcements, and consistent digital presence strengthen their credibility.
The lesson? Strong BD and Capture discipline opens the door—but marketing widens it.
Scaling with Discipline
In the early stages, leaders wear many hats—BD, Capture, Proposal, and Delivery. But as opportunities grow in scope and complexity, success depends on repeatable processes and team accountability:
- Playbooks that embed best practices across functions
- Clear roles (Capture Manager, Proposal Lead, PM)
- Templates and lessons learned for faster, stronger responses
But scaling also requires marketing discipline. Every new process must align with consistent messaging, every proposal must reflect the same brand promise,
and every team member must become a brand ambassador.
Conclusion: Turning OASIS+ Discipline into Sustainable GovCon Growth
Winning in government contracting is never about chance. It’s about the disciplined application of Business Development, Capture, and Teaming—and ensuring those disciplines are fully supported by marketing that amplifies visibility, credibility, and trust.
- Business Development thrives when marketing ensures agencies and primes already know who you are.
- Capture strategies are stronger when win themes and value propositions are reinforced across your website, capability statements, and thought leadership.
- Teaming is easier and more successful when your brand presence attracts the right partners.
For contractors pursuing OASIS+, these connections are critical. The vehicle is designed to be a Best-in-Class growth engine—but only for companies that approach it with process, culture, and visibility working together.
We’ve seen time and again that the contractors who scale successfully are the ones who:
- Harness OASIS+ strategically as part of a broader go-to-market plan.
- Build repeatable BD, Capture, and Teaming playbooks that embed best practices.
- Invest in marketing that keeps them top-of-mind with agencies, primes, and partners.
The path to OASIS+ success is clear: discipline, strategy, and marketing working in unison. That’s the secret sauce that transforms one-time contract wins into long-term, sustainable growth in the federal marketplace.
👉 Explore more insights in the GovCon Decathlon series and learn how to align marketing with every stage of the GovCon lifecycle.
Read All GovCon Decathlon Series Articles:
The GovCon Decathlon: 10 Disciplines for OASIS+ Success
Stand Out from the Crowd – Find Your Niche
Go-to-Market Strategy for Government Contractors: How to Define, Connect, and Win
Ready to stand out in the OASIS+ ecosystem? Clarity isn’t just helpful—it’s essential. Make it easy for your customers to find you, understand you, and choose you.
Ocean 5 Strategies helps government contractors refine their niche, craft powerful messaging, and implement brand strategies that win contracts and attract top talent. If you’re ready to move from “good” to “great” in the federal market, Reach Out to Ocean 5.
Mild Red LLC helps government contractors turn complex federal procurement opportunities into competitive advantage. We combine data-driven market intelligence with strategic communications to position clients for growth in programs like OASIS+, Zero Trust, and AI initiatives. Our expertise translates policy and market shifts into actionable strategies that win. Reach out to Mild Red.
