Past performance when you have none
How a new small business reads a past-performance requirement and chooses notices it can actually answer. Draft for review.
Past performance is evidence that you did work like the work in the notice, and that it went well. A long company story is not the same thing. A new firm is not barred from every competition. Some notices score experience heavily, and a thin file will lose points. That is a reason to pick notices, not a reason to invent contracts.
Read the instruction before you panic
The solicitation says what you may cite: federal contracts, state or commercial work, subcontracting, or the experience of a key person or a partner. If it limits the file to prime federal contracts and you have none, that notice is a poor first bid. Put it in the pipeline as a pass.
If it allows commercial work that looks like the job, use the projects you can document. A customer who will answer the phone is worth more than a famous logo you cannot explain.
Teaming is not a costume
A partner’s past performance helps only when the notice allows it and the agreement is real. Their status does not become yours. A logo on a slide without a teaming arrangement is a gap an evaluator can see.
Subcontracting under a prime who already holds the contract is a different path. You are not bidding the prime award. You are asking the prime for a seat. That conversation still needs a capability statement that matches your SAM.gov record.
What not to do
Do not fabricate contract numbers, dollar values, or CPARS scores. Do not ask an AI assistant to “fill in” a past-performance matrix with plausible jobs. GovChat can outline a section. It cannot supply a contract you did not perform.
The glossary entry on past performance is the short version. Firms on a first registration should also read new to government contracting.