How to staff a recompete before award

Start from the staffing plan

A recompete is a new competition for work an incumbent contractor already performs, and its staffing plan is the list of positions, labor categories and people your proposal commits to.

Build that list from the solicitation: every labor category, the qualifications each requires, the clearance level and where the work is done. Mark the positions the solicitation names as key personnel, since those often need a named person, a résumé and a commitment in the proposal itself.

Then sort every seat into three groups: people you already employ, people on the incumbent’s team you hope to keep, and seats you must recruit for. The third group is where the calendar is tightest, and program managers are often the hardest key seat. Hiring a program manager shows who else is advertising the role and what it pays, dated.

Get commitments in writing

A contingent offer is a written job offer that takes effect only if your company wins the award, and it is how you hold a candidate while the government decides.

For key personnel, many solicitations also ask for a signed letter of commitment from each person named. Put the pay, the title, the location and the expected start in the offer, and tell candidates plainly what happens if you lose.

Award dates can move. Keep every committed candidate informed as the date changes, because someone who hears nothing for two months may accept another offer.

Plan for the incumbent workforce

The incumbent workforce is the people doing the work today under the current contractor, and keeping them is often the fastest way to staff the first day.

If the contract carries FAR 52.237-3, the incumbent must allow as many personnel as practicable to remain on the job to help the successor, disclose necessary personnel records, and allow the successor to conduct on-site interviews with its employees. On the contracting officer’s written notice, it must also provide phase-in and phase-out services for up to 90 days after the contract expires.

FAR 37.110 says contracting officers may use the clause when the services are vital and a transition is expected to be difficult, and gives services requiring personnel with special security clearances as an example. Read the solicitation for it, and plan your own outreach to incumbent staff rather than relying on the clause alone.

Fill the cleared seats

A cleared seat is a position whose work needs access to classified information. Under the NISPOM, 32 CFR 117.10, the government determines eligibility, and an employee may be given access only with a need to know, a favorable eligibility determination at the right level and a signed nondisclosure agreement.

That rule shapes the plan. A contractor must limit clearance requests to the minimum number of employees its contracts need and may not use them to build a cache of cleared employees, so you cannot sponsor new clearances to stock a bench for a bid.

Start with people who already hold the clearance. Once a candidate has accepted a written offer for a job that needs access from the first day, the same rule lets a contractor submit the investigation request before the start date, provided the offer says work will begin within 45 days of eligibility being granted.

Ayla infers who is likely cleared from work history and reaches those people first; your security officer verifies. Recruiting for contractors explains how.

Know who else is hiring

Hiring competition is the set of other employers advertising the same roles in the same places, and during a recompete it includes the incumbent and every other bidder.

Check live postings for each labor category and location before you set pay. Your bid’s labor rates and the offers you make have to agree, and a range set from an old survey can lose a candidate on the first call.

Ayla’s government hiring data covers open government and contractor roles from 700+ official sources, dated, so you can see who is advertising each role and what they pay.

The weeks after award

Phase-in is the period between award and the day your team takes over the work, and it is when commitments turn into start dates.

• Convert contingent offers the day the award is final, in writing.
• Start onboarding and security paperwork at once, in parallel.
• Keep a short list of backups for every key seat, since some candidates will have moved on.
• If a protest delays the start, tell every candidate promptly what it means for them.