Past performance is your company's track record of successfully executing government contracts. Contracting officers use past performance evaluations to assess your capability and reliability before awarding new contracts, and it often weighs heavily in competitive evaluations.
Past performance is the government's way of answering the question: "Have you done this before, and did you do it well?" Every time you complete a government contract, the contracting officer evaluates your performance and that evaluation becomes part of your official record. When you bid on new contracts, government evaluators review these past performance records to assess your likelihood of success on the new work.
Past performance becomes increasingly important as your company matures. For new contractors with no government history, past performance is a small factor or sometimes not applicable. But for established contractors, past performance can be 30-50% of the evaluation score—meaning your track record matters more than your proposed approach.
Why it matters: Strong past performance creates a competitive moat. If you've successfully delivered on similar work, you have an enormous advantage over competitors with no track record. Conversely, if you have poor past performance or unresolved performance issues, you're almost certain to lose competitive bids. Government agencies are risk-averse; they want to hire contractors who have proven they can deliver.
In practice, managing your past performance is a strategic business function. Successful contractors maintain detailed records of their government contract work: what they delivered, on-time and on-budget metrics, customer satisfaction, and any issues encountered. Many companies have internal "past performance managers" who track all contract performance and prepare responses to past performance questions in new proposals.
One strategic consideration: your past performance is tied to specific contract references. You'll name 3-5 government contracts as examples when bidding, and the government will call those references. Pick contracts that are most similar to the work you're proposing. Another point: if you have negative past performance (missed deadlines, cost overruns, quality issues), those don't disappear—you need to address them directly in proposals and show what you've learned and fixed.