Watch the on-demand version of this event
Previous webinars in this series
$151B MDA SHIELD Winners: Your Next 30 Days
February 19, 2026
From MDA SHIELD Primes to Task Orders: Tactical Growth
April 16, 2026
Frequently asked questions
What is the MDA SHIELD contract?
MDA SHIELD is referenced as a $151B contract vehicle. The webinar series covers topics such as 'MDA SHIELD Winners: Your Next 30 Days' and 'From MDA SHIELD Primes to Task Orders: Tactical Growth.'
Who are the featured speakers in this webinar?
The featured speakers are Justin Nerdrums and Natasha Velez, who discuss execution strategies for winning on MDA SHIELD.
When did this webinar take place?
This webinar was published on February 19, 2026, and is available as an on-demand version.
What is the next webinar in the SHIELD series?
The next webinar in the series is titled 'From MDA SHIELD Primes to Task Orders: Tactical Growth,' scheduled for April 16, 2026.
What does GovDash offer for government contractors?
GovDash offers a platform to win and manage government contracts, with tools including Discover, Capture, Pricer, Proposal, Contract, Dash AI Agent, Data Library, Reports, and Integrations.
What solutions does GovDash provide?
GovDash provides solutions for Small Business, Mid-Market, and Enterprise clients, as well as for teams including Business Development, Capture Managers, Proposal Managers, Contract Managers, and Leadership, covering sectors like Defense, FedCiv, Health, and SLED.
How can you respond to more SHIELD IDIQ task orders without missing deadlines or sacrificing quality?
The most effective approach is building reusable capture templates, pre-loading your past performance library before RFPs drop, and running parallel compliance checks so teams catch gaps early. Contractors who win consistently on SHIELD build repeatable pursuit workflows rather than treating each task order as a fresh start from scratch.
What is an IDIQ contract and how do task orders work under a vehicle like SHIELD?
An Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract sets a ceiling value and ordering period but does not guarantee a specific amount of work. Agencies issue individual task orders against the IDIQ ceiling, each with its own scope, period of performance, and evaluation criteria, meaning award of the base contract is only the beginning of the competition.
How do you start building a federal contracting pipeline from scratch when you have little to no past performance?
Start by pursuing sub-prime positions on active IDIQs, submitting capability statements for sources sought notices, and using state and local contracts as stepping stones to build a documented performance record. Federal agencies accept commercial, international, and SLED past performance when it demonstrates relevant capabilities, so no record needs to be purely federal from day one.
Should you pursue a SHIELD task order as a prime or subcontractor, and how do you decide?
The decision turns on your certifications, technical depth in the required task areas, and whether an existing prime has the customer relationship you lack. Subcontracting on early task orders builds agency familiarity and contract history that makes a future prime bid more competitive, particularly for small businesses entering a new program.
How does AI help contractors improve probability of win on government contracts beyond just speeding up proposal writing?
AI applied early in the capture phase surfaces competitive intelligence, identifies incumbents, maps past performance to solicitation requirements, and flags pricing gaps before an RFP drops. The strategic lift comes from moving probability-of-win analysis upstream rather than waiting until the proposal writing sprint begins.
What is the best way to get past performance write-ups into GovDash so Dash references them accurately during proposal generation?
Upload completed contracts and their supporting documents through the Contract module, then confirm each record has a linked performance work statement or SOW so Dash can match task areas to solicitation requirements. Past performance stored without a PWS can still be retrieved but will produce lower-quality section matches because the AI has less structured evidence to draw from.
How does GovDash handle compliance management for complex defense contracts like those under SHIELD?
GovDash reads Sections C, H, L, and M from solicitation documents, generates a compliance matrix that maps every requirement to a proposal section, and updates that matrix automatically when amendments post to SAM.gov. For PIEE-distributed amendments, manual upload is required since automatic tracking applies only to SAM.gov-sourced postings.
Can you use commercial or international past performance to compete for US government contracts when you have limited direct federal experience?
Yes, federal evaluators routinely accept commercial and international past performance as long as it demonstrates relevant scope, scale, and technical complexity comparable to the requirement. The key is presenting that experience in a format that maps each prior engagement to the specific task areas and performance standards in the solicitation's Section M evaluation criteria.
What does the GovDash Capture module do that a general CRM like Salesforce cannot?
GovDash Capture is built around GovCon-specific workflows including structured go/no-go scoring, gate reviews with configurable approval chains, win-theme development that flows directly into proposal outlines, and teaming partner recommendations based on solicitation fit. A general CRM manages contacts and deal stages but has no understanding of solicitation structure, set-aside eligibility, or capture-to-proposal handoff requirements.
How do contracts managers and program managers benefit from GovDash after award, not just during the BD and proposal phases?
The Contract module tracks modifications, CLIN-level obligations, and CDRL deliverable deadlines with a full audit trail, and the USASpending Bulk Import automatically fetches new award data without manual entry. Capability breakdowns attribute performance to specific task areas, feeding that structured record back into future proposal generation so post-award execution actively strengthens the next bid.
