In a formal submission, your Capability Statement (or other such document) must, as a minimum, serve two purposes i.e.:
(1) Demonstrate your degree of experience, competence, and resource-readiness to provide the service or to deliver the product your enterprise is bidding to deliver, and
(2) Provide the bid’s evaluators with a feel for the health, direction, and focus of your enterprise.
These objectives aren’t always expressed that clearly in the client’s / buyer’s submission instructions, but it’s generally the purpose of asking for the inclusion of this type of document. Thus, it pays to regularly review your Capability Statement to see how closely it reflects the current direction, strengths, abilities, capacities and resources of the organisation.
Here are some quick check-points you can use to assess the currency of your Capability Statement. (NB: These are especially relevant to the smaller, director-owned enterprise, which has markedly more “pivotability” than its corporate counterparts.)
1) Is this document still directly reflective of the core reason for your enterprise’s existence? Does your organisation still exist to achieve the mission and vision of its founders? Or has it evolved, but your Capability Statement has not? (NB: Here we see the intersecting elements between a Mission Statement and a Capability Statement.)
2) In the context of the new-business pursuits you’ve participated in in recent times (say, the last two years), is there a close alignment between the nature and specifications of the targets’ projects or procurements, and your experience, track record, and personnel and other resources?
3) Are the improvements you’ve identified as necessary, at an overarching, thematic level (that would Indicate you need to reassess the specific pursuits you’re embarking on)? Or are they at the more granular level, indicating the document either needs a general update, or a customisation edit for the submission in which it’s being included?
Overviewing your Capability Statement at this macro level is advisable as a regular practice. It’s also the starting point for the more detailed applicability assessment of your document in the context of any individual bid or proposal.
