Past performance and D&B Open Ratings
Your references are the part of the application you cannot control directly. Here is how to influence it.
How GSA checks past performance
GSA wants proof that you deliver. Depending on the solicitation and your history, it may draw on Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) Open Ratings, past-performance questionnaires completed by your customers, or government performance records where you have them. We confirm which applies to you at kickoff.
What Open Ratings are
Open Ratings is a D&B system that gathers reference information about a vendor by surveying its customers. Typically it needs somewhere between four and twenty completed references. The results form a score that contracting officers can consider when evaluating you.
What a good score looks like
In our experience, a score above 90 is strong and a score below 80 can hurt your options. The score reflects how your customers' answers compare with the answers others in your industry receive.
How to improve your odds
Warn your references
Tell each one to expect the survey email and explain that it will be used to assess your firm for a GSA contract.
Explain the stakes
Customers who think the survey is an internal performance improvement tool tend to rate harshly. Make sure they know it is a formal assessment.
Choose broad, current references
Pick customers who know your work and will respond quickly. Non-response is a leading cause of delay.
Follow up
A friendly nudge a few days later is often all it takes to get the survey completed.
We help you select and brief references as part of the full-service package.
Ready to talk through your MAS contract?
Book a no-obligation call and we will tell you honestly whether the MAS program fits your firm.