Federal Grants
The Past Performance Section of a Capability Statement
Grant Writing Service Editorial Team
August 13, 2026 · 4 min read
Table of contents
Key takeaways
- Each entry needs client, scope, value, period, and a measurable outcome, in about two lines.
- Three entries fit a one-page statement; choose them for relevance to the buyer, not size.
- With no federal history, use commercial, state, local, or subcontract work and state your role plainly.
The past performance section of a capability statement lists three or so recent projects that prove you can deliver what the buyer needs, each in about two lines: who the client was, what you delivered, how large it was, when, and what measurable result it produced. Everything else on the page describes what you say you can do; this is the only block that shows you have done it, which is why contracting officers read it first.
It is also where most one-page statements waste space, because applicants write paragraphs where two lines would do. (For the full document and the other sections, see how to write a capability statement.)
What one entry needs
Five components, every time:
- Client: the agency, prime contractor, or organization.
- Scope: what you delivered, in the buyer's language.
- Value: contract or project value.
- Period: dates or duration.
- Outcome: something measurable that resulted.
The fifth is the one that gets dropped, and it is the one that matters. A contracting officer assumes you performed the scope; they are looking for evidence of how well.
Worked examples
The three entries below are illustrative, written for a fictional workforce services firm. Real entries should name the actual client and, where you can share it, the contract number.
Federal veterans services agency, regional office Transition case management for 1,400 separating service members across three regions. $2.1M, three years. Achieved 94 percent enrollment within 30 days of referral against an 85 percent target; contract extended twice.
Prime contractor, federal health workforce training program (subcontract) Curriculum design and instructor delivery for 22 training cohorts. $340K, 18 months. Completion rate 91 percent; participant ratings averaged 4.6 out of 5.
State workforce agency Outreach and eligibility screening for 6,200 households in eleven counties. $780K, two years. Reduced average time from screening to determination from 19 days to 7.
Each entry does the same work in two lines: a client a buyer can verify, scope in terms the buyer recognizes, a number for size, and a result with a figure attached.
Note the second entry. It states plainly that the work was a subcontract under a prime. That is not a weakness to hide; it is normal and verifiable, and far better than wording that implies prime status a reference call would contradict.
Choosing which three
Relevance beats size. A $340,000 contract for exactly the scope a buyer is procuring outweighs a $4 million contract in an adjacent field, because the contracting officer is matching your history against a requirement, not ranking vendors by revenue.
So the entries should change from buyer to buyer. Keep every possible entry in a master file, and for each agency pick the three closest to what it buys, rewriting the scope in its terminology. Our capability statement template is laid out to be re-cut this way.
Recency matters too. Formal solicitations usually define a lookback window, often three to five years, so favor recent work. Older work can appear if it is unusually on point, but a statement whose best example is a decade old invites the question of what you have done since.
Writing outcomes without clean metrics
Not every project produces a percentage. Alternatives, roughly from strongest to weakest:
- Renewal or extension. "Contract extended twice" is a client's verdict.
- Scale delivered. "1,400 participants across three regions" shows capacity.
- Schedule and budget. "Delivered on schedule and 4 percent under budget."
- Formal ratings or recognition. A Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) rating, a commendation, an award.
- Client statement. A short attributed quote.
What does not work is restating the scope as if it were an outcome. "Provided case management services" tells the reader nothing the scope did not already say.
With no federal past performance
This is the normal situation for first-time federal sellers, and the honest approach is also the effective one.
Use what you have. Commercial contracts, state and local work, nonprofit programs, and subcontracts all belong here, in the same five-part format. Buyers are judging whether you can deliver the scope, and a well-documented commercial contract shows that.
State your role accurately. Prime, subcontractor, or teaming partner: say which. Ambiguity that flatters you costs credibility, because federal buyers check.
Do not invent or inflate. Federal past performance is recorded in CPARS and checked through reference calls, and a discovered exaggeration ends the relationship, not just the pursuit.
Build toward it. Subcontracting under an established prime is the usual route to federal past performance, and one completed subcontract changes this section entirely. Make sure your SAM.gov registration is active and your NAICS codes are right first; our guide to registering in SAM.gov and getting a UEI covers the groundwork.
How it differs from past performance in a proposal
The capability statement version is a teaser: three short entries to earn a conversation. When you respond to a formal solicitation, past performance is usually a separate proposal volume or section with the solicitation's own format, often requiring contract numbers, contracting officer contacts, detailed narratives, and sometimes questionnaires your references complete directly. The same five components apply; there is simply more room and more required detail. Write the short entries first and you will have the core of the longer version ready.
Where it sits on the page
Past performance is usually the third of the standard blocks: company overview, core competencies, past performance, differentiators, company data. Give it about a quarter of the page, enough for three tight entries. If it is running long, the entries are written as prose; compress each to client, scope, value, period, outcome.
When a contract opportunity leads to federal grant work, such as an SBIR award, the application runs on standard forms rather than a capability statement; start with the SF-424 explained, and our federal grant writing service can build the full application.
