captureplanning

Capture planning, also known as capture management, is a structured process used primarily in government contracting and large enterprise sales to identify, pursue, and win opportunities. It involves researching the customer’s needs, the buying process, the competitive landscape, and the organization’s strengths to define a strategy and a plan for pursuit.

Key elements include opportunity qualification, win strategy development, competitive analysis, teaming and partner strategies, and a plan for cost and pricing. A capture plan is typically created after a go/no-go decision and documents the target customer, decision makers, differentiators, risk factors, required resources, and milestones.

Execution focuses on relationship building, early engagement with the customer, overlaying a differentiated value proposition, and aligning proposal efforts, pricing, and risk management to the win strategy. The process culminates in a decision to bid and a proposal developed by a proposal team under a capture plan.

Roles commonly include a capture manager who leads the effort, a capture team with representatives from business development, program management, engineering, and pricing, and a proposal manager who coordinates the response.

Capture planning is common in defense, aerospace, and other sectors with complex procurement. It aims to improve win probability, optimize resource use, and align the organization around a customer-centric solution rather than solely on product features.

Critically, successful capture planning balances being customer-focused with ethical considerations and compliance requirements, and requires governance through go/no-go gates and post-submission reviews.