Extensions are often an opportunity to renegotiate elements of the contract. Sometimes the customer will ask for a cost reduction; perhaps you will ask for a price increase to cover inflation over the additional period. Usually a compromise is agreed.

But you can also use the extension as an opportunity to agree on changes to how the contract is delivered that move it in the direction the customer may be thinking they want for the next contract period. This gives you a chance to test the new way of working and gives you credibility of being able to deliver the new ways of working and examples of working in this new format for the recompete. It may encourage the customer, if they are getting closer to the service they are looking for in the future, to postpone the recompete even further and give you more extensions.

Your early recompete preparation should give you a view of what changes the customer is looking for in the next contract. Taking a proactive stance and offering to test these changes with the customer during the extension period could give you a real advantage at the recompete – and might be the tipping point that means they grant the extension. Depending on the extension options the customer has, you may also use this approach to get a full extension for the longest period possible, rather than a series of shorter extensions.

If you can show that the transition to the new way of working needs to be in place for a period of time to show its full benefit, you may be able to get this longer single extension, giving you (and your staff) more certainty for a longer time. Having an updated contract delivery in place that is closer to the customer’s future needs also means that your transition risks and costs for the new contract are likely to be lower – as will the customer’s risk of choosing you to deliver the next contract.

Note: Article author Nigel Thacker is a proposal consultant in the UK specializing in recompetes. He is arguably the leading authority in the world on proposal recompetes.