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Firm-Fixed-Price Becomes the Default: What the New Executive Order Means for Your Pricing Strategy
On April 30, 2026, the White House issued a sweeping new directive—Promoting Efficiency, Accountability, and Performance in Federal Contracting—that is poised to significantly reshape how federal contractors approach pricing, risk, and delivery. At its core, the Executive Order (EO) establishes firm-fixed-price (FFP) contracting as the government’s preferred default, signaling a decisive shift away from cost-reimbursement and time-and-materials structures. This is not just a
May 5
The Color Review Reality Check: Are You Helping—or Hurting Your Proposal?
Have you ever tried to scrub out a stain so aggressively that you ended up making a hole? That’s exactly what can happen to your proposal when color reviews are overused or misused. What is meant to strengthen your submission can ultimately weaken it, reducing quality, slowing progress, and frustrating your team. Color reviews are powerful but only when done right. Common Color Review Faux Pas Even experienced proposal teams fall into these traps: 1. Too Many Reviews, Not Eno
Apr 16
Supporting Veteran Entrepreneurs: Teaching Proposal Management at VIP AEROSPACE 2026
Last week, Marina Goren, President/CEO of Smart BD Consulting, had the privilege of serving as an instructor for the Veteran Institute for Procurement (VIP) AEROSPACE 2026 program—an intensive three-day training designed to help veteran-owned small businesses grow and succeed in the federal marketplace. The VIP AEROSPACE program brings together veteran entrepreneurs from across the country for hands-on training and expert-led sessions focused on critical areas of business gr
Mar 11
Missed Our OASIS+ Phase II Webinar? Watch the Recording On Demand
GSA has finally released the long awaited final Phase II RFP amendments for OASIS+, formally adding 5 new contract domains and opening on ramp for all of the Phase I domains . To help firms understand what this means, and how to take advantage of it, Marina Goren, Pesident/CEO of Smart BD Consulting, partnered with GrowthLab in hosting a free, live webinar on Friday, January 16, focused specifically on what OASIS+ looks like for marketing communications agencies. A follow on
Jan 16
100% Win Rate: Our Clients Secure MDA SHIELD Contract Awards
We are proud to announce that every client we supported in the MDA SHIELD procurement successfully secured a spot on the contract. Our tailored approach, attention to detail, emphasis on compliance, and hands-on proposal support once again translated into measurable results for our clients. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) SHIELD (Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense) is a major, multi-billion dollar contract vehicle for the MDA to rapidly acquire technologies
Jan 1
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Smart BD Consulting assists ASRC Federal in Winning a $38.5M Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Base Operations Maintenance Services (JBER BOMS) Contract
The United States Air Force has selected our client, ASRC Federal Field Services, to support the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Base Operations Maintenance Services (JBER BOMS) contract. The contract is valued at approximately $38.5 million and has a base period of one year, followed by four, one-year option periods. https://www.asrcfederal.com/asrc-federal-subsidiary-awarded-the-united-states-air-force-joint-base-elmendorf-richardson-base-operations-maintenance-services-con
Apr 9, 2021
Smart BD Consulting Assists ERT in Winning a 10-Year $699M NOAA NESDIS Operations, Maintenance, and Sustainment (OMS) Contract
Our client, ERT, is a mid-size company has been awarded the NOAA NESDIS Operations, Maintenance, and Sustainment (OMS) 10-year $699M IDIQ contract (single award). ERT Awarded the NOAA NESDIS OMS IDIQ Contract This was a massive capture and proposal undertaking, over a year in the making. A full and open bid, highly coveted by all large company competitors. ERT worked hard on this deal, they brought the best and brightest talent to the table, didn’t cut any corners and made sm
Mar 30, 2021
Smart BD Consulting Inc. Assists ASRC Federal in Winning a $86M NASA Research Facilities and Engineering Support Services (RFESS) Contract
Our client, ASRC Federal, has been selected by NASA to perform engineering and technical services as part of the Research Facilities and Engineering Support Services contract at the agency’s Armstrong Flight Research Center. The contract, valued at $86M, is a re-compete for ASRC Federal and Smart BD Consulting helped win it second time in a row. Our client, ASRC Federal, has been selected by NASA to perform engineering and technical services as part of the Research Facilities
Dec 11, 2020
Smart BD Consulting Inc. Assists KBR in Winning a $300 USGS Technical Services Support Contract (TSSC) V
Our client, KBR, won a five-year, $300M re-compete for scientific, engineering and technical services for the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. EROS operates the Landsat satellite program and maintains the largest civilian collection of images of the Earth’s land surface in existence. This data serves those who work in agriculture, emergency response, intelligence, regional planning, education and research. KBR will partner
Nov 30, 2020
Smart BD Consulting Inc. Assists X-Energy in Winning a $80M DOE Advanced Nuclear Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP)
Our client X-Energy, was awarded a $80M for the DOE Advanced Nuclear Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP). “The awards are the first step of a new program that will strengthen American leadership in the next generation of nuclear technologies,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette. https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/us-department-energy-announces-160-million-first-awards-under-advanced-reactor Smart BD Consulting, Inc. (Smart BD) was honored to be a part of the propo
Oct 25, 2020
Marina Goren, President/CEO of Smart BD Consulting, Presents “To Bid or Not To Bid – That is the Question
Marina Goren, President/CEO of Smart BD Consulting, Inc. (SmartBD) led a live Valley of the Sun APMP Chapter Webinar – “To Bid or Not To Bid – That is the Question!” The Webinar is designed to teach techniques for making Bid/No Bid decisions. It includes 5 real life Case Studies, designed to provoke your decision-making process and answer the question – “To Bid or Not to Bid?” A recorded, on-demand version of the Webinar is available to all APMP Members free of charge:...
Oct 20, 2020
Smart BD Consulting Inc. Assists Another Client – With Not Just One, But Two Wins!
Smart BD Consulting, Inc. is proud to assist another client with not one, but two wins, totaling ~$195M! Our client of many years, Ace Info Solutions, LLC ( AceInfo) won two contracts in a row. Our team assisted with Technical solutioning and Orals preparations. Congratulations, AceInfo! https://www.aceinfosolutions.com/dovel-subsidiary-aceinfo-awarded-fema-national-flood-insurance-program-nfip-modernization-and-support-contract/ https://www.aceinfosolutions.com/dovel-subs
Oct 14, 2020
Marina Goren, President/CEO of Smart BD Consulting, is featured in APMP GMC blog post
Nichole L. Reber features Marina Goren’s thoughts and insights in her blog “How to Benefit from a BD/Capture Consultant”; For some proposal managers, the churn-and-burn of our work leaves little time for entertaining thoughts about a proposal’s travels before it lands in our laps. How can your firm benefit from BD/Capture consultants? Check out this APMP GMC blog post from: https://apmpgmc.org/2020/08/how-to-benefit-from-a-bd-capture-consultant/
Aug 30, 2020
Smart BD Consulting Inc. Assists ASRC Federal in Winning a $330M NASA ACITS4 Contract
Smart BD Consulting, Inc. is proud to announce yet another exciting client NASA win! In the past 2-3 years, our NASA win record has been unmatched by any other consulting firm: 13 bids submitted: 6 wins, 2 losses, 5 bids in source selection. Our client, ASRC Federal has been awarded the NASA Ames Consolidated Information Technology Services (ACITS) 4 contract. Valued at approximately $330M, the contract provides comprehensive IT services including governance support for cloud
Aug 17, 2020
Marina Goren, President/CEO of Smart BD Consulting, Presents at the APMP Winning Business Virtual Experience
Marina Goren’s session “#NewProposalWorld #NewApproaches” is available on demand now: Over 500 attendees have viewed the session and called it “insightful”, “thought provoking” and “the best presentation I have seen so far!”
Jul 12, 2020
Smart BD Consulting Inc. Assists SGT, a Business Unit of KBR, in Winning a $570M NASA MOSSI Contract
Smart BD Consulting, Inc., is proud to announce yet another exciting client win! Our client SGT, a business unit of KBR’s government services segment, was awarded an eight-year, $570.3M contract by NASA to develop and execute spaceflight operations at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Under the Marshall Operations, Systems, Services and Integration (MOSSI) contract, KBR will perform International Space Station payload operations and support testing of the m
Jun 15, 2020
Scribble Talk Episode 22, Featuring Marina Goren
Tune in to Ashley Kayes and Baskar Sundaram as they rapid fire questions at Marina Goren on the topics of capture, proposals, entrepreneurship and … Disney characters. Listening to this episode, you can find out the story behind the name “Smart BD Consulting” and Ms. Goren’s 5-year strategic plan (or the lack thereof). During the podcast, Ms. Goren describes her journey with the Association Of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) and how it got started. She reveals thr
May 8, 2020
A Glass-Half-Full Reflection During the COVID-19 Pandemic
We are all living today’s new norm and having a tough time with it. Doing so, we have a choice – seeing the glass half full or half empty. I choose to see it half full. For every “Feature” of today’s world… I developed a “Benefit”. As a result, here are my personal Features and Benefits of living through a COVID-19 pandemic. What are yours? Let’s focus on the good things that are happening and this too shall pass, we will emerge stronger, healthier, tougher and better as hu
Apr 7, 2020
One Large Win for Smart BD and Our Client Axiom Space, One Giant Leap for Space Exploration!
Smart BD Consulting has never been more excited to announce another major client win! Congratulations to Axiom Space for winning access to a docking port on the International Space Station (ISS) for the purposes of building first US commercial space station module. This is truly a history-making victory and Smart BD is very proud to have been a part of the proposal team! https://spacenews.com/nasa-selects-axiom-space-to-build-commercial-space-station-module/ “I truly apprecia
Jan 29, 2020
The Future of Proposal Development – Building the Next Generation of Proposal Writers
The need for higher quality proposals has never been more urgent. Federal Contractors are now realizing that to survive in tomorrow’s procurement environment, full of changes, complexities and ambiguities, they need different proposal approaches and techniques from those that helped them succeed in the past. But more importantly, they need new solutions, new proposal ideas, infused by new talent. Our experience has shown that the best proposals are developed by combining prop
Jan 24, 2020
Smart BD Consulting Assists ASRC Federal in Securing a Follow On $354M NASA PAAC V contract
Not too many contracts are won three times in a row, but PAAC is one of them. This is a true testament to the superb contract execution and performance, coupled with an exceptional proposal. Smart BD was honored and fortunate to be a part of this superb capture and proposal team! https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-awards-program-analysis-and-control-v-contract “On behalf of the entire ASRC Federal team I would like to congratulate everyone on an outstanding PAAC re-compe
Dec 16, 2019
Marina Goren, President/CEO of Smart BD Consulting, to Speak at the 2019 APMP Mid-Atlantic Conference and Expo
Please consider joining us at the APMP-NCA Chapter’s annual flagship event—the 2019 Mid-Atlantic Conference and Expo (MAC). The annual MAC attracts hundreds of proposal and capture professionals from the National Capital Region and beyond. The event will take place at the Sheraton Tysons Hotel on October 17. If you have not done so yet, please register at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2019-apmp-nca-mid-atlantic-conference-and-expo-mac-tickets-65784993687 If you are coming to
Oct 17, 2019
Smart BD Consulting Sponsors ASRC Federal American Heart Association Tony Dubler Memorial Golf Tournament – Winning with Heart
Smart BD Consulting, Inc., sponsored a hole at ASRC Federal’s third-annual charity golf tournament benefiting the American Heart Association. The event is part of ASRC’s overall fundraising efforts for the 2019 American Heart Association Greater Washington Heart Walk. This year was even more special as the tournament has been renamed in memory of Tony Dubler, an ASRC Federal employee who passed away unexpectedly earlier this year. Tony was an avid golfer and a committed leade
Sep 29, 2019
Smart BD Consulting Assists OPR, LLC, in Winning a $165M NASA Flight Dynamics Support Services (FDSS) III Contract
Smart BD Consulting, Inc., is proud to announce yet another exciting client win! NASA has awarded the $165M Flight Dynamics Support Services (FDSS) III contract to our client OPR, LLC, to provide flight dynamics support and related services at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-awards-contract-for-flight-dynamics-support-services “The Smart BD team provided insightful proposal management and knowledge-based solutions
Aug 9, 2019
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