Capability statement for government contractors: federal, state, and local

Federal buyers follow the pattern covered in detail on our federal capability statement page. Summary: UEI, CAGE code, NAICS codes with size status, set-aside certifications (8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB, VOSB, WOSB, EDWOSB), and contract vehicles held.

The audience is contracting officers, agency OSDBU staff, and prime contractor BD teams on federal contracts. Content is tuned to what they verify: registration in SAM, NAICS match to the requirement, set-aside eligibility, and past performance traceable to CPARS or USASpending.

State buyers do most of their vendor identification through state-specific procurement portals rather than SAM. Almost every state runs its own vendor registration system (eVA in Virginia, CalPro in California, DOA-DPS in Minnesota, and dozens of others), and the equivalent of UEI is a state vendor ID.

What changes on a state-focused capability statement:

• State vendor IDs replace or supplement UEI. List your state registration number for each state you are registered in, clearly labeled. If you sell to multiple states, you may have half a dozen state vendor IDs.
• State-level certifications matter. MBE (Minority Business Enterprise), WBE (Women Business Enterprise), DBE (Disadvantaged Business Enterprise), SBE (Small Business Enterprise), and state-specific veteran-owned classifications are issued and verified by the state, not SBA. Cite the state certifier (Virginia SBSD, California CALM, Minnesota CERT, etc.) and verification date.
• Business license and bonding. State and local buyers often require contractors to hold state-issued business licenses or trade licenses (general contractor license in Florida, C-10 electrical license in California). Include license numbers and states.
• Geographic footprint. State buyers care more about in-state presence than federal buyers do. "Virginia-based with offices in Richmond and Norfolk" is load-bearing for Virginia opportunities. Make geography explicit.

NAICS codes still matter for state procurement when the state follows federal SBA size standards for its own set-asides, but many states use alternate size classifications (revenue thresholds, headcount) published by the state's small-business office.

Local buyers (city, county, school district, special authority) usually have the lightest registration requirements but the most specific local-preference expectations. What changes at the local level:

• Local vendor registration. Each jurisdiction runs its own vendor system. Your capability statement for local work should cite the local registration number and portal name ("City of Chicago iSupplier vendor 12345," "Miami-Dade County VSS vendor 67890").
• Local business license and tax receipt. Most cities and counties issue their own business tax receipt or business license. For contractors bidding on county work, a current business tax receipt number goes on the capability statement.
• Local preference programs. Many cities run local-preference programs (5-10% bid preference for in-city vendors, or preference for "local small businesses" defined by the city). Cite any local-preference designation you hold ("City of Austin Local Business Preference, certified 2025-03").
• DBE (Disadvantaged Business Enterprise) certification. DBE is a federally funded program administered at the state DOT level for transportation contracts. If you hold DBE certification in a state, it travels across most local transportation work in that state. List the certifying UCP (Unified Certification Program) and the verification date.
• Trade licenses. Construction-adjacent work at the local level often requires trade licensing issued by the county or city. General contractor license numbers, plumbing licenses, electrical licenses should appear by number.

Most contractors manage with one capability statement that works across federal, state, and local with light customization at outreach time.

What stays the same across all three:

• Core competencies (the work you do)
• Past performance (three recent contracts, mixed across federal / state / local as appropriate)
• Differentiators (structural capabilities)
• Design and layout

What changes:

• Corporate data block. For federal pitches, UEI, CAGE, NAICS, SBA certifications. For state, state vendor IDs and state certifications (MBE, WBE, DBE). For local, local vendor IDs and local licenses. You can either maintain one document that lists all relevant IDs (longer corporate-data block) or swap the block per audience (cleaner, requires version management).
• Past performance selection. If pitching a state DOT, lead with state and federal DOT past performance. If pitching a federal civilian agency, lead with federal civilian work.

Practical recommendation: maintain one "canonical" capability statement with the federal corporate-data block, then keep two or three short alternate corporate-data pages you can swap in for state or local-specific outreach. Switching just the corporate-data block avoids rewriting the whole document per audience.

For format reference across industries (IT services, construction, professional services, manufacturing), see our annotated examples page. Those examples are federal-focused, but the structure applies across state and local pitches with the corporate-data swaps described above.