Analytics

Cothon's Analytics module provides powerful insights into the procurement landscape. Research vendors, track agency spending, identify market trends, and generate intelligence reports that inform strategic business decisions. With comprehensive data from federal, provincial, and municipal sources, Analytics transforms raw procurement data into actionable intelligence.

Overview

Analytics is your procurement intelligence engine, helping you make data-driven decisions across your entire business development lifecycle. Whether you're researching competitors, identifying new markets, or building your pipeline strategy, Analytics provides the insights you need to win more government contracts.

Analytics helps you:

• Research vendors - Understand competitor history, performance, and win rates with detailed contract analysis
• Track agencies - Monitor department spending patterns, preferences, and budget trends across all levels of government
• Identify trends - Spot emerging opportunities and declining markets with advanced trend analysis
• Generate reports - Create comprehensive intelligence reports for strategic planning and capture decisions
• Build dashboards - Monitor key metrics in real-time with customizable visualization widgets
• Analyze performance - Track your own bid performance and optimize your win strategy
• Explore jurisdictions - Understand procurement patterns across federal, provincial, and municipal levels

Getting Started

Key Features

Vendor Analytics

Research any vendor's government contract history with detailed performance metrics and competitive intelligence

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Procurement Analytics

Track agency spending patterns, category trends, and identify upcoming recompete opportunities

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Dashboards

Build custom dashboards to monitor pipeline metrics, competitor activity, and market trends in real-time

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Reports

Generate professional procurement intelligence reports for capture planning and strategic reviews

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Bid Performance

Analyze your win rates, pricing effectiveness, and bid-to-win ratios to optimize your capture strategy

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Jurisdictional Breakdown

Compare procurement patterns across federal, provincial, and municipal jurisdictions

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Data Coverage

Cothon Analytics aggregates procurement data from multiple authoritative government sources, providing comprehensive coverage across all levels of Canadian government procurement.

Federal Data Sources

Provincial Data Sources

Municipal Data Sources

Quick Searches

From the Analytics home, you can quickly search across all procurement data:

Search Types

Vendor Name Search

• Find any contractor by full name or partial match
• Handles legal name variations (Inc., Ltd., Corporation)
• Identifies parent companies and subsidiaries
• Example: "Acme Consulting" finds "Acme Consulting Inc.", "Acme Consulting Services Ltd."

Department/Agency Search

• Search by full department name or acronym
• Includes all sub-agencies and branches
• Example: "PSPC" finds Public Services and Procurement Canada and all branches

Contract Number Search

• Direct lookup by contract reference number
• Supports all federal and provincial contract ID formats
• Example: "W8486-220024/001/EI"

Keyword/Category Search

• Search across contract descriptions, categories, and UNSPSC codes
• Full-text search with relevance ranking
• Example: "cloud hosting" finds contracts containing cloud computing and hosting services

NAICS/UNSPSC Code Search

• Search by industry classification codes
• Includes parent and child categories
• Example: "541512" finds Computer Systems Design Services

Location/Region Search

• Find contracts by delivery location or vendor location
• Supports postal codes, cities, provinces
• Example: "Ottawa" finds all NCR contracts

Use Cases

1. Competitive Intelligence

Research competitors before bidding to understand their strengths, weaknesses, and likelihood of competing:

Pre-Bid Competitor Analysis

• Contract History: Review competitors' past wins in this category and with this agency
• Win Rate Trends: Identify if they're growing, stable, or declining in this market
• Pricing Patterns: Analyze historical contract values to estimate their pricing strategy
• Agency Relationships: Determine strength of incumbent relationships and past performance
• Teaming Patterns: Identify who they partner with and why

Example Workflow

1. Search for your top 3 competitors in Vendor Analytics
2. Filter to contracts in your target category from the past 5 years
3. Compare win rates, average contract values, and agency relationships
4. Identify gaps in their coverage (categories or agencies they don't serve well)
5. Export competitive comparison report for your capture team

Key Questions to Answer

• What's their win rate with this specific agency?
• Are they growing or shrinking in this market segment?
• What contract vehicles do they typically use?
• Who are their frequent teaming partners?
• What's their typical pricing position (high/mid/low)?

2. Market Analysis

Understand the overall procurement landscape to identify growth opportunities and market shifts:

Market Sizing and Trends

• Total Addressable Market: Calculate total annual spending in your category
• Growth Rates: Identify expanding categories and agencies
• Seasonal Patterns: Understand when agencies typically procure your services
• Market Concentration: Determine if market is fragmented or dominated by few players
• Emerging Categories: Spot new procurement categories driven by policy changes

Example Workflow

1. Use Procurement Analytics to view 5-year spending trends in "IT Professional Services"
2. Filter to your target agencies and geographic region
3. Analyze quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year growth rates
4. Identify seasonal peaks (typically Q3 and Q4 for federal)
5. Compare market share among top 10 vendors to assess competition level

Strategic Applications

• Market Entry Decisions: Is the market large enough and growing to justify investment?
• Category Prioritization: Which service categories should you focus capability development on?
• Geographic Expansion: Which regions show the most opportunity?
• M&A Due Diligence: Validate market size and growth assumptions when evaluating acquisitions

3. Teaming Decisions

Find potential partners for joint bids and build strategic alliances:

Partner Identification

• Complementary Capabilities: Find firms with capabilities that complement yours
• Past Teaming History: Identify firms with successful teaming track records
• Small Business Partners: Locate certified small businesses for set-aside requirements
• Geographic Coverage: Partner with firms that have presence in regions you don't
• Security Clearances: Find partners with required clearance levels

Example Workflow

1. Identify large opportunity requiring capabilities you don't have (e.g., French language services)
2. Search Vendor Analytics for firms with high win rates in French language services
3. Filter to small businesses if opportunity has set-aside requirements
4. Review their past teaming arrangements to assess partnership experience
5. Analyze agency relationships to find firms with complementary customer bases
6. Export shortlist of 5-10 potential partners with contact information

Evaluation Criteria

• Win Rate: Partners with >30% win rates bring credibility
• Teaming Experience: Look for firms that team frequently (not solo players)
• Cultural Fit: Review firm size, growth stage, and values alignment
• Non-Competitive: Ensure they don't compete directly in your core markets
• Geographic Proximity: Consider location for ease of collaboration

4. Pricing Strategy

Inform your pricing decisions with historical contract value data:

Pricing Intelligence

• Historical Award Values: Benchmark pricing for similar contracts
• Price-to-Win Analysis: Understand agency's price sensitivity vs. technical emphasis
• Competitor Pricing: Estimate competitor pricing based on past wins
• Budget Trends: Identify if agency budgets are increasing or decreasing
• Contract Type Analysis: Determine if agency prefers FFP, T&M, or cost-plus structures

Example Workflow

1. Find similar past contracts using keyword and category filters
2. Analyze distribution of contract values (high/low/median)
3. Review contract types and payment structures
4. Identify if agency tends to award at ceiling, midpoint, or floor of estimate
5. Compare values over time to account for inflation and market changes
6. Calculate your target price based on competitive position

Pricing Considerations

• Federal contracts typically see 3-7 competitive bids with price spread of 20-40%
• Incumbent premium: Incumbents often win at 5-10% higher price than competitors
• Small business set-asides: Less price pressure, more emphasis on past performance
• Q4 spending: Year-end contracts may have less price sensitivity due to budget burn
• Multi-year vs. single-year: Multi-year contracts often command premium pricing

5. Pipeline Development

Build a healthy opportunity pipeline using predictive analytics:

Recompete Forecasting

• Expiring Contracts: Identify contracts ending in next 12-24 months
• Recompete Patterns: Analyze historical recompete timing and frequency
• Incumbent Performance: Assess likelihood of incumbent being replaced
• Budget Signals: Monitor agency budget submissions for clues on future spending

Example Workflow

1. Filter to contracts in your category expiring within 18 months
2. Analyze past recompete patterns for this agency (do they always recompete?)
3. Research incumbent performance (protests, amendments, modifications)
4. Set up alerts for RFI/Sources Sought related to these opportunities
5. Build capture plan for high-priority recompetes

Pipeline Metrics to Track

• Pipeline Value: Total potential value of opportunities in your pipeline
• Win Probability: Weighted probability based on competitive position
• Stage Distribution: Balance of opportunities across capture stages
• Aging: How long opportunities have been in each stage
• Close Rate: Percentage of pipeline that converts to proposals and wins

6. Account Management

Manage and grow existing customer relationships:

Customer Analytics

• Wallet Share: What percentage of agency's spending in your category do you have?
• Penetration Depth: How many different contracts/vehicles do you have with this agency?
• Relationship Strength: Tenure, number of recompetes won, past performance ratings
• Growth Opportunities: Identify adjacent categories and programs to expand into
• At-Risk Analysis: Monitor competitor activity and contract expiration dates

Example Workflow

1. View your agency profile in Procurement Analytics
2. Compare your contract values to total agency spending in your categories
3. Identify categories where agency spends significantly but you have no presence
4. Analyze recent contract awards to spot new programs or initiatives
5. Create account growth plan targeting specific categories and programs

Power User Features

Advanced Filtering

Combine multiple filters for precise analysis:

Filter Combinations

Vendor: Your competitors
+ Agency: Target department
+ Category: Your service area
+ Date Range: Last 3 years
+ Value Range: $500K - $5M
+ Contract Type: Standing Offers

Saved Filter Sets

• Save frequently used filter combinations
• Share filter sets with your team
• Quick-apply for consistent analysis

Data Export Options

Export analytics data in multiple formats:

Automated Alerts

Set up alerts to stay informed:

Alert Types

• New Awards: Notify when specific vendors win new contracts
• Agency Activity: Alert when target agencies issue new opportunities
• Competitor Wins: Track when competitors win in your categories
• Market Changes: Alert on significant spending increases/decreases
• Expiring Contracts: Remind of upcoming recompete opportunities

Alert Delivery

• Email notifications (daily digest or real-time)
• In-app notifications
• Dashboard widgets
• Slack/Teams integration
• Weekly summary reports

Collaboration Features

Share analytics with your team:

Sharing Options

• Public Links: Generate shareable links for reports and dashboards
• Team Workspaces: Collaborate on analysis with team members
• Comments: Add notes and insights to specific contracts or vendors
• Annotations: Highlight important data points for team review
• Version History: Track changes to reports and dashboards

Analytics Workflow Examples

Scenario 1: New Market Entry

Objective: Evaluate entering the "Cloud Hosting Services" market for federal agencies.

Expected Insights:

• Market size: $450M annually across federal government
• Growth rate: 23% year-over-year
• Market concentration: Top 5 vendors have 65% share
• Entry barriers: Secret clearance required, CCCS certification preferred
• Sweet spot: Contracts $2M-$10M, 3-5 year terms
• Best target agencies: PSPC, SSC, RCMP (highest spending)

Scenario 2: Competitive Bid Decision

Objective: Decide whether to bid on a $5M IT Professional Services opportunity at DND.

Decision Factors:

• DND spends $180M annually on IT Professional Services
• 4 likely competitors identified with 35%, 28%, 20%, and 12% win rates
• Incumbent has performed well but contract expires (typical 5-year cycle)
• Your firm has 2 past contracts with DND, both rated "Very Good"
• Estimated 6-8 competitors will bid
• Win probability: 18% (calculated from competitive position)
• Decision: BID - Win probability above 15% threshold, good strategic fit

Scenario 3: Partner Selection

Objective: Find a teaming partner for a bilingual IT support contract in Quebec.

Partner Criteria:

• Quebec-based with Montreal office
• Certified Small Business
• 75%+ of staff bilingual (French/English)
• Past wins on bilingual contracts
• Experience teaming (not always solo)
• Win rate >25%
• Compatible company culture and values

Performance Metrics

Track your analytics usage and ROI:

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Issue: Vendor not found

• Try variations of company name (Inc., Ltd., Corporation)
• Search by partial name
• Check for parent company vs. subsidiary
• Contact support to request vendor profile merge

Issue: Incomplete contract data

• Some contracts have limited public information
• Classified contracts are not included
• Values may be estimated for older contracts
• Amendment data may lag by 2-4 weeks

Issue: Slow performance

• Narrow date range for large datasets
• Use specific filters rather than broad searches
• Clear browser cache
• Try off-peak hours for large exports

Issue: Export fails

• Reduce size of export (date range, filters)
• Try different format (Excel vs. PDF)
• Check file size limits
• Split into multiple smaller exports

Frequently Asked Questions