The Great Rebake: How to Pre-Game a Recompete Before It Becomes HTRO
If you’re treating your next recompete like a rerun of the last one, you’re already behind. Federal agencies are rethinking how they buy — and how they score — across major IDIQs and Task Orders are showing signs of systemic rewrites, not just refreshes. Some government HTRO users like AFLCMC, are moving into the next version of HTRO today on EPASS.
These aren’t rebids. They’re rebakes.
And if you’re a mid-tier or growing prime, the risk isn’t just losing a contract — it’s misreading the way your own position, your team, and even your performance history will be evaluated. This is the moment to step back, pre-score, pre-team, and pre-shape the opportunity — before the RFP locks in the rules of the game.
Step 1: Reverse-Engineer the Future Scoring Model
The most dangerous assumption in GovCon is that the next evaluation will look like the last one. It won’t.
HTRO-style evaluation is becoming the norm — structured, scorecard-based, and unforgiving. You need to start now by building a picture of:
What the likely technical scoring rubric will prioritize
How you would score today, as-is
How your competitors (especially new entrants) might be built for the new model
Start by pulling similar vehicles or same-agency IDIQs and comparing their evolution. Is there a move toward quantitative evaluation of innovation, or substantiated risk mitigation? Are narrative writeups being replaced with data-backed substantiation grids?
Pro Tip: Don’t just model the score. Map your gaps. That’s where you’ll need to invest in performance artifacts or new teaming strategies — now, not later.
🛠️ Kinetic can simulate your expected scoring posture — and your competitor’s — before the draft even hits.
Step 2: Rethink Your Team for the Next Win
Don’t default to last time’s team — default to next time’s scorecard.
Even if you were the incumbent, your existing team may not be the one that scores best under the new rules. Here’s what to rethink:
The Small Business Mirage: Mentor-Protégés vs. True Small Business
The federal market is seeing an influx of Mentor-Protégé JVs, where large businesses are using their infrastructure and past performance to win in small business lanes.
If you’re a large business, this can be a savvy strategy — if you build the JV to withstand scrutiny and clearly show the protégé is the performer.
If you’re a true small business, this is a challenge. Many agencies aren’t yet fully distinguishing between “real smalls” and M/P hybrids — unless you make that distinction clear through leadership roles, labor mix, and differentiated past performance.
🛠️ Kinetic helps clients build the right M/P JV relationships — or build defensible positions as true smalls — that survive evaluator scrutiny.
Substantiation Starts Before the RFP
Step 3: Shape the Requirement While It’s Still in Flux
Winning under HTRO requires more than strong past performance — it requires proof. And too often, the CDRLs and deliverables on current contracts weren’t built with future substantiation in mind.
What we’re seeing:
Reports lack the specificity that HTRO scoring rubrics demand
Proposal teams are often unprepared to efficiently produce an HTRO-ready substantiation volume — but Kinetic is.
Teams assume “we’ll just explain it in the proposal” — but scoring doesn’t work that way anymore
Now is the time to audit your current performance documentation. Get ahead of what you’ll need to prove — and start building it into your contract outputs now.
🛠️ Kinetic conducts Substantiation Audits to identify gaps and help align current artifacts with future scoring needs.
By the time a draft RFP hits the street, most of the scoring structure is baked. If you wait until then to influence the opportunity, you’re no longer shaping in partnership with your customer — you’re shaping in public, where all bidders can see your moves and react to them. The window for quiet influence closes fast.
Here’s how smart firms are shaping recompetes now:
Engaging in regular discussions with your government customer well before the acquisition strategy is fully formed. This gives you time to collaborate with your customer to support the best outcomes for both the agency and your business.
Submitting RFI responses that nudge evaluation criteria toward their strengths — RFIs are not public, so this is often your last chance to shape the opportunity without revealing your strategy to competitors
Using Q&A windows to clarify and lock in favorable definitions (for labor categories, experience thresholds, innovation metrics)
Tracking language shifts across related vehicles to predict where the agency is heading
Most important: Know what you want the RFP to say before it says it — and engineer your touchpoints accordingly.
🛠️ Kinetic’s Shaping Playbook helps clients build a custom shaping strategy — a tailored approach to influencing language, scoring thresholds, and qualification models based on their unique position, strengths, and growth goals. It’s not just a framework — it’s your pre-game playbook.
Final Word: Compete on the Next RFP, Not the Last One
Too many contractors treat recompetes as a rerun — updating a past proposal and hoping the same team, same stories, and same approach will carry them through.
But rebakes are different. They’re structural rewrites, not just recompetes. They demand a fresh look at how the government will score, who will compete, and what proof you’ll need to stand out.
“Most firms spend their capture energy defending their old win. The smart ones invest it imagining how the next win gets built — and by whom.”
— Chuck H, CEO, Kinetic
Teaser: Where’s Kinetic? SOFWeek 2025
Are you heading to SOFWeek 2025? So are we. And we’re bringing something with us: a free Competitive Intelligence report for one lucky follower during the event. Find us (snap a pic) at SOFWeek 2025, tag @kinetic-wins on LinkedIn, and get an extra extra! 👉🏼Join the Mission
🔍 “Where’s Kinetic?” and this time, it’s all about helping you rebake smarter, compete sharper, and win bigger.
Follow along on LinkedIn for clues, connect with us in Tampa, and discuss how Kinetic’s Competitive Intelligence Report can apply to your next competition. Whether it is a new effort or a recompete, the intelligence you collect now can mean a win tomorrow.
