Foundations and Contract Cloud

What to expect during the Foundations and Contract Cloud session

The session will start with an end-to-end walkthrough of the opportunity lifecycle in GovDash. Then, a member of your team will share their screen and upload data live, providing a detailed tour of the Data Library and Contract Cloud. This will show how GovDash identifies key details within your data, including people, companies, agencies, and customers, and how to clean data greatly enhances features like Dash, Capability Matrices, and more.

We'll also answer any outstanding questions, ensure you have your test proposal, Word Assistant downloaded, and confirm receipt of your proposal templates.

Please wait for instructions from the onboarding team before uploading data to GovDash, we know you're excited to get started!

Session Preparation Instructions

• Please be prepared for one of your teammates to share their screen and upload the data live during the session.

• Please have an understanding of where you store your data prior to our session, and invite any teammates who own these pieces of data.

• If you are utilizing the SharePoint connection, please have this connected prior to this session. The user who is driving this session will need to be a member of the SharePoint site that contains the documents you wish to upload.

• Please have 2 contract examples ready to upload live together. Please ensure you have the Award Document and PWS/SOW for each contract, as these are mandatory to create a compliant Past Performance or Contract Record in the system.

• Have 1 Key Personnel Resume example ready.

• Have 1 Previous Proposal example ready, 1 piece of boilerplate content, or 1 capability statement ready.

Session Agenda

Connected Lifecycle

Once you get your data uploaded to GovDash, you will be able to see in real time how GovDash makes connections across all of your data. This will allow your team to better see which people you have worked with and where you have worked with them, which companies you have teamed with in the past and how you have worked together, as well as the agencies you have past performance with and where you should focus your team’s efforts.

People

GovDash shows you who you have worked with, and where you have worked with them. We will upload your Key Personnel resumes live during our session together, and walk your team through all of the ways you can leverage the data that has been extracted to further enhanced your workflows:

• You can attach Key Personnel resumes to proposals and have the system adjudicate personnel for you.

• You can get automatic recommendations from your staffing pool for candidates for positions.

  • This can also let your team know if you don’t have the necessary personnel to perform the work.

• This can help let your team know who you have worked with in the past, and which past performance you have with them.

  • This can allow your team to identify key individuals to reach out to for different proposals you might need teaming partners with.

Companies

GovDash will show you which companies you have teamed with to any capacity and allow your team to see who you may want to work with in the future based on your past work:

• We will walk you through how the Company tab can show you which work you have performed with which company.

• You can use Dash to help recommend teaming partners for you based on previous work you have completed.

Agencies

GovDash will show you which agencies you have worked with in the past:

• Analyze agency relationships, past performance strengths, and gaps to guide proposal focus.

• Review contract data across customers, including use of Contract Vehicles.

• Assess average contract value and duration by agency.

What Data to Upload and Where

There are two main locations to upload data to the system: the Contract Cloud and the Data Library. Both serve executive functions in your GovDash system, and without spending time up front to get them populated optimally, you may not get the best output possible.

Contract Cloud

Your Contract Cloud serves as a contract management system, with a focus on being your past performance repository. This will allow GovDash to support you in running capability matrices, gap analysis, and create past performance write-ups and sections in proposals.

There are two main documents that the Contract Cloud needs in order to be able to work properly for you. This includes the contract/award document and the PWS/SOW. Without these two documents, the Contract Cloud will be limited in its ability to speak accurately to your past performance. We also encourage you to upload additional documentation such as CPARS, monthly status reports, comprehensive past performance writeups, customer kudos, etc. to give GovDash the best context.

Data Library

The Data Library serves as your content repository. This is where we recommend uploading boilerplate content, writeups on key service offerings, uploading previous proposal submissions, etc. For recommendations on which documents to upload here, please see our support article here!

Data Tips, Tricks, and Best Practices

Data Ownership

• Know which team on your side owns which piece of data.

  • This include contract data, as well as previous proposal submissions, writeups on core service offerings, boilerplate content, etc.

  • This will ensure that data upload is clean. It is key to assign ownership of data in the beginning to ensure long term success in GovDash.

SharePoint Integration

• Get your SharePoint connected before uploading data.
  

  SharePoint Permissions

  Please note that you must be a member of the SharePoint site you wish to upload data from.

Document Tagging

• Develop a tagging system in the GovDash Data Library to better organize your data.

  • This can allow your team to better identify and use Focus Documents and create new documents using Dash.

  • For recommendations, see our ProTeam article on mastering document tagging.

Supported File Formats

• GovDash supports a wide range of file formats for uploading your data and documents. You can confidently upload common file types such as PDF (.pdf), Word documents (.doc, .docx), Excel spreadsheets (.xls, .xlsx), CSV files (.csv), and more.

  • Whether your file is a PDF or a Word document, GovDash treats both formats equivalently for document handling and processing. There’s no need to convert between file types, simply upload what you have, and we’ll take care of the rest.

  • For PowerPoint (.ppt, .pptx) file formats, we will extract text from slides, but will not process images.

  • For image file formats (.png, .jpeg, .tif, etc.) we are able to extract clear text, but not utilize any of the actual image.

  • If you have questions about a specific file format or run into issues uploading, please contact our support team.

Data Upload Priority

Focus on uploading your Past Performance to the Contract Cloud first, then move over to focusing on the Data Library.

• The Contract Cloud is extremely critical to many areas of GovDash and affects content quality throughout the system. It is very important to ensure it is fully set up with your contract data.
  

Bulk Data Uploading

We do not recommend bulk uploading data, as we encourage you to be purposeful with your uploads to get better results out of the system long term.

Session 2 Knowledge Check

• Contract Cloud Deep Dive: How the Contract Cloud serves as a dynamic, centralized repository of contract and past performance data. Key takeaways include:

  • How past performance/contract data is captured and structured.

  • How this data powers downstream tools like Bid Match, Dash, and Capture workflows.

• Data Library Essentials: The importance of building and maintaining a strong Data Library to maximize search-ability, reuse, and alignment across functions.

• GovDash’s Interconnected Ecosystem: How the Contract Cloud and Data Library connect seamlessly with other modules (Capture, Proposal, and Dash), enabling efficient workflows and data-driven decisions.

• ROI & Value: How you can start leveraging your data starting today to save your team time and money.

Looking Ahead: Session 3 - Capture Cloud, Pipeline, and Dash

Preparation Recommendations

• Identify core pieces of your capture workflow so we can show your team how you can leverage GovDash to enhance those workflows.

• Ensure your capture team is invited to our next scheduled session.

• Focus on outstanding actions items from previous onboarding sessions.

What to expect in Session 3

During our next session, we will go through the Capture cloud in detail. We will discuss how your team can leverage Bid Match to identify relevant opportunities, how to utilize the Pipeline, how to run Gate Reviews, take notes, Capability matrices, and how Dash support your workflows. We will then show your team how we can take your opportunity through the Pipeline and how it translates and feeds directly into the Proposal Cloud.

Session 3 Knowledge Check

Effectively utilize Bid Match

• How GovDash leverages your Past Performance to pull relevant opportunities.

• How to create and manage saved searches.

Adding opportunities to the Pipeline

• Manual, bulk, and via Bid Match.

How to effectively leverage the GovDash Pipeline

• Manage members, opportunity participants, and notifications.

• Create and manage custom fields.

• Take notes, track tasks, and use the Activity tab.

• Run Capability Matrices and Shreds.

• Manage capture within the GovDash phases.

How to effectively manage your Capture workflows with Dash

• Search solicitation documents, the Data Library, Contract Inventory, and the web for competitive intelligence.

• Use Deep Research for deeper background insights.

• Generate documents, proposal kickoff content, and competitive positioning analysis.

• Conduct capture reviews and respond to/create data calls.

How to transition your work seamlessly from the Pipeline to the Proposal Cloud