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Documentation Index

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Every MERIT account includes BD 101 — a structured, 35-lesson playbook built for government contractors at every level of experience. Whether you are new to federal business development or an experienced capture professional, BD 101 walks through the full lifecycle of a GovCon pursuit: fundamentals, capture, Pwin, requirements, pricing, proposal handoff, and federal data sources. Each section connects to practical work inside MERIT so you can apply concepts as you manage pursuits. BD 101 is included with MERIT at launch.
BD 101 is included free with every MERIT account — no upgrade required. All 8 sections and 35 lessons are available at no additional cost.

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What you will learn

BD 101 follows the natural arc of a GovCon pursuit from discovery to proposal submission. Each section builds on the last, so you can work through the curriculum in order or jump directly to the stage that matters most to your current work.
5 lessonsStart here if you are new to GovCon or want to make sure your entire team shares the same vocabulary. This section covers the core concepts behind government contracting business development — how the federal market works, what BD actually means at a practical level, and the terminology your team will use every day.Key topics:
  • Core BD concepts and the federal acquisition cycle
  • CPARS (Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System) — what ratings mean and how they affect your past performance story
  • Essential GovCon acronyms and how to use them in proposals and conversations
8 lessonsThe largest section in BD 101 covers the capture process from first identification through the gate decision to bid or no-bid. You will learn how Pwin supports pursuit decisions and how to apply a consistent qualification lens before investing deeper capture effort.Key topics:
  • The capture process end-to-end
  • The Pwin framework and how to apply it consistently
  • The main inputs that shape a pursue/no-pursue recommendation
  • Gate reviews: what they are, who owns them, and what makes them effective
6 lessonsA capture plan is the living document that organizes everything you know about an opportunity — and everything you still need to learn. This section teaches you how to build a capture plan that actually gets used: structured around intelligence, actions, and milestones from day one, not assembled hastily the week the solicitation drops.Key topics:
  • Capture plan structure and what belongs in each section
  • How to build a plan incrementally as intelligence matures
  • Milestone planning and action ownership
  • Connecting your capture plan to the pursuit record in MERIT
5 lessonsCapture activities are the field work of BD — the meetings, research, and analysis that turn a vague opportunity into a more informed pursuit. This section introduces common capture activities and how to organize what you learn.Key topics:
  • Stakeholder mapping: identifying who influences the award decision
  • Relationship building with buyers, influencers, and partners before the solicitation
  • Competitive analysis: understanding the landscape before you position
  • Structured reviews to test assumptions before proposal work begins
4 lessonsOnce you understand the opportunity and the competitive landscape, you need to translate that knowledge into strategy. This section teaches you how to analyze contract requirements, identify gaps, and connect your approach to evaluation criteria.Key topics:
  • Reviewing PWS and SOW documents for requirements and risks
  • Identifying capability gaps before proposal work begins
  • Developing credible differentiators
  • Aligning strategy to evaluation criteria
3 lessonsYour technical approach, staffing strategy, and price all need to work together. This section covers how to develop a coherent solution and understand pricing considerations across common federal contract types.Key topics:
  • Technical approaches and how to structure a solution that answers the government’s actual problem
  • Staffing strategies: choosing and positioning key personnel to maximize evaluation scores
  • Pricing across four contract types: FFP (Firm Fixed Price), T&M (Time & Materials), CPFF (Cost Plus Fixed Fee), and CPAF (Cost Plus Award Fee)
1 lessonThe bridge between capture and proposal is where many contractors lose information they spent months gathering. This section teaches you how to transfer capture intelligence — stakeholder insights, discriminators, partner fit data, competitive analysis — into a proposal outline that writers can execute on. A strong handoff produces a stronger proposal.Key topics:
  • Structuring the handoff from capture team to proposal team
  • Translating discriminators and win themes into proposal sections
  • Using MERIT’s capture record as the foundation for your proposal narrative
3 lessonsThis section introduces common federal data sources used in GovCon research. You will learn what each source contains, how to read the data, and how those data points can support opportunity and company research in MERIT.Key topics:
  • FPDS (Federal Procurement Data System): historical contract awards, agency spending patterns, and incumbent identification
  • SAM.gov: active solicitations, entity registrations, and award data
  • USAspending: budget data, agency spending trends, and opportunity sizing
  • How federal data can inform opportunity research and pursuit records

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How BD 101 connects to your work in MERIT

The curriculum is not standalone training — it is designed to run alongside the platform. As you work through each section, you will see how the concepts map directly to MERIT features.

Pwin scoring

Section 2 covers the Pwin framework. In MERIT, you can open a pursuit and use a structured PWin assessment to support qualification decisions.

Capture stages

Sections 3 and 4 map to MERIT’s capture stage workflow. Your capture plan, stakeholder map, and competitive notes all live in the pursuit record.

Capability gap analysis

Section 5 teaches requirements analysis. MERIT helps you review pursuit documents and identify potential capability gaps.

Partner matching

Sections 4 and 5 cover teaming strategy. MERIT’s partner discovery tools help you act on that strategy when you identify a gap.
The fastest way to get value from BD 101 is to work through each section while you have an active pursuit open in MERIT. Apply each concept to a real opportunity as you go — the lessons are short enough to complete between capture activities.

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Get access

BD 101 is included with every MERIT account at no additional cost — Free, Solo, Team, Growth, and Enterprise plans all include the full 35-lesson curriculum. Sign up for early access at meritmatch.io/reserve to reserve your account.