I teach GovCon teams a one‑sentence technique that consistently moves evaluator ratings from Acceptable → Outstanding. Not by rewriting the whole volume. Not by adding more detail. And definitely not by “making it clearer.” Here’s the problem Most teams write federal proposals to describe their approach. That feels logical. It’s also the wrong target. Evaluators aren’t readers. They’re decision documenters. Their job is to justify scores — in writing. If they can’t quote your proposal verbatim to justify a Strength, they won’t infer it. They’ll score conservatively. And they’ll move on. The fix is simpler than most people expect: Stop writing to explain what you do. Start writing to give evaluators the exact sentence they can paste into their scoring notes. One sentence they can point to and say: “This is why we rated them Outstanding.” That single shift does more for proposal scores than rewriting an entire technical approach. I break this down step‑by‑step — with real proposal examples and repeatable workflows — inside my FREE Skool Proposal Development Course. No theory. No generic “best practices.” Just evaluator‑ready language you can apply on your next pursuit. 👇 If you’re tired of Acceptable, this is where to start. Classroom · AI Proposal Wins for GovCon

Quick update before we dive in. Last week I ran a 5-day series on the FY 2027 budget. Some of you followed all five days. Some caught one or two. The feedback was solid and a few of you asked me to go deeper on specific agencies. So here's what I'm doing. Instead of posting every day and flooding your feed, I'm switching to one deep post per week. Less noise, more substance. And I want these to be conversations, not lectures. So when you see the question at the bottom, don't just read it. Answer it. That's how this community gets valuable for everyone. Ok. Let's talk about SBA. One of the people who grabbed the contractor impact summary last week asked me to dig into what the SBA cuts actually mean for small businesses. So I read every SBA-related section in the budget, plus the six other agency chapters that affect small business contractors. Here's what I found. THE HEADLINE IS MISLEADING. $329 million. That's the FY 2027 request. Down from $1 billion. A 67% cut. Sounds like the government is abandoning small businesses. It's not. But it is abandoning the support system that helped small businesses figure out how to compete. WHAT'S ACTUALLY BEING ELIMINATED: - SCORE. Gone. That's 10,000+ volunteer mentors and 150,000 small business clients a year. - Community Navigator. Gone. $100M grant program for underserved entrepreneurs. - Small Business Development Centers. At risk. Over 900 locations nationally. - Women's Business Centers. At risk. Over 140 centers providing training and counseling. - Veteran programs. Preserved at $21.4M. The only carve-out that survived. SBA staffing is also dropping because there are fewer programs to administer. And there's a new administrative fee on lenders in the 7(a) and 504 programs, which could mean higher borrowing costs for small businesses. WHAT'S NOT BEING CUT (AND THIS IS THE PART MOST PEOPLE MISS): - Small business set-asides. Unchanged. - 8(a) program. Unchanged. - HUBZone. Unchanged. - SDVOSB / VOSB. Unchanged.

This week we broke down the FY 2027 budget from a contractor’s perspective: • Monday: Why the budget is a capture intelligence document • Tuesday: Five growth agencies surging with contract dollars • Wednesday: Seven agencies where pipelines face risk • Thursday: Five capture strategy adjustments to make now Today, let’s close the loop. Here’s your action plan for the next 30 days: Week 1: Pipeline exposure audit Export your pipeline. Tag every opportunity by agency. Score each agency as Growth, Stable, or At-Risk using this week’s data. Calculate your exposure percentage. This takes an afternoon and gives you the clearest picture of your business risk you’ve ever had. Week 2: Adjacency identification List your core capabilities. Match them against growth-agency needs from Tuesday’s post. Identify the 2–3 most natural fits. Assess whether your past performance will resonate with evaluators in those agencies. If not, figure out who has the past performance you need and put them on your teaming short-list. Week 3: Proposal language refresh Pull your boilerplate, your capability statement, and your three most recent past performance narratives. Read them through the lens of Thursday’s post. Update the value propositions. Make sure your language matches what the customer is currently prioritizing, not what they were prioritizing two years ago. Week 4: Teaming outreach Pick your top growth-agency target. Identify 3–5 potential teaming partners who have vehicle access, past performance, or customer relationships you lack. Initiate conversations. Get NDAs in place. The RFPs haven’t dropped yet — that’s exactly why now is the time. This series gave you the framework. If you want help executing it, here are two ways I can support you: 1. Contractor Impact Summary (free): A one-page PDF with the full growth/risk agency breakdown and action checklist. Drop a comment or DM me and I’ll send it over. 2. Pipeline-to-Budget Alignment Session (consulting): A 60-minute working session where we map your specific pipeline against FY27 budget signals, identify your highest-value adjacencies, and build a prioritized capture pivot plan. DM me “pivot” if you want details.

We’ve covered where money is growing and where it’s shrinking. Today: what to actually do about it. These are five concrete strategy shifts that this budget signals. Every one of them affects how you write proposals, who you team with, and where you spend your BD time. 1. Audit your pipeline against funding direction Pull every active opportunity. Tag each one by agency. Cross-reference against the growth/risk data from earlier this week. If more than 40% of your pipeline dollar value sits in agencies cut by 20%+, you have a positioning problem that won’t fix itself. 2. Map your adjacencies Your capabilities are more transferable than you think. IT modernization applies to DoD, VA, Energy, and DOJ. Cybersecurity is needed everywhere that’s growing. Program management, logistics, healthcare IT, engineering — the growth agencies need all of it. The question is: do you have the past performance and vehicle access to compete? If not, that’s what teaming solves. 3. Update your proposal language Acquisition priorities have shifted. The budget emphasizes efficiency, speed, lethality, fraud prevention, AI integration, merit-based outcomes, and workforce readiness. If your boilerplate still leads with equity frameworks, climate resilience, or stakeholder engagement as primary value propositions, you’re misaligned with where evaluation criteria are heading. This isn’t about politics — it’s about matching your language to what the customer is buying. 4. Accelerate your teaming Growth agencies will release new vehicles. BNATCS at FAA. Golden Dome and Golden Fleet at DoW. EHRM expansion at VA. Maritime programs at DOT. The best teaming positions get locked in 6–12 months before the RFP drops. If you’re waiting for the solicitation to start looking for partners, you’re already behind. 5. Watch for new program starts This budget names specific new programs: Golden Dome, Golden Fleet, BNATCS, Administration for a Healthy America, WISE Office at VA, Wildland Fire Service at Interior, America First Opportunity Fund at State, Maritime Security Trust Fund at DOT. New programs mean new contracts without incumbents. That’s where small and mid-tier firms break in.

Yesterday was the good news. Today is the reality check. These agencies are facing significant budget cuts. If a large portion of your pipeline sits here, this isn’t cause for panic, but it is cause for planning. SBA: -67% ($329 million) SCORE eliminated. Community Navigator eliminated. Entrepreneurial development programs cut. Admin fee imposed on lenders. If you’re an SBA-centric contractor, this is the most dramatic single-agency shift in the entire budget. EPA: -52% ($4.2 billion) Environmental justice programs eliminated entirely. State Revolving Funds cut by $2.5 billion. Categorical grants cut by over $1 billion. DERA grants eliminated. The permitting mission remains funded, but grant-heavy contractors face real exposure. State and International Programs: -30% ($35.6 billion) USAID programming ended. PEPFAR restructured into bilateral compacts. Food for Peace (Title II) eliminated. National Endowment for Democracy eliminated. UN funding cut $2.7 billion. International development contractors face the largest structural shift in a generation. Labor: -26% ($9.9 billion) Job Corps eliminated ($1.6 billion). OFCCP effectively defunded. SCSEP eliminated. OSHA training grants cut. Career and Technical Education transferred to DOL from Education. The compliance landscape is fundamentally shifting, your proposal language around hiring and workforce requirements needs to adjust. NASA: -23% ($18.8 billion) Over 40 science missions terminated, including Mars Sample Return. ISS funding reduced ahead of 2030 deorbit. STEM engagement cut. SLS and Orion transitioning to commercial replacements. Artemis Moon landing still fully funded at $8.5 billion. Performance-driven and commercial-focused awards are the direction. HUD: -13% ($73.5 billion) CDBG eliminated ($3.3 billion). HOME Investment Partnerships eliminated ($1.3 billion). HOPWA eliminated. Continuum of Care replaced by Emergency Solutions Grants. PRO Housing eliminated. Fair Housing Initiatives Program eliminated.