What Company Profile is designed for
Company Profile is primarily designed for NextStage users to build out their own company's intelligence record. Think of it as your living, AI-ready capability statement; the source Nexus AI draws from when generating proposals, running analysis, and producing pursuit strategy for your organization.
This is not a competitive intelligence tool for researching other companies. It is your company's foundation inside NextStage.
Who should have a profile
You can maintain multiple Company Profiles inside NextStage. This is common for organizations that operate under more than one entity. Create a profile for:
Your primary company
Any joint ventures (JVs) you are actively submitting proposals under
Umbrella or parent companies where the entity is the offeror of record
You do not need to create profiles for teaming partners or subcontractors. Company Profile is for the entities your organization is proposing as.
Selecting the right profile before you work
If you have more than one Company Profile, it is critical to confirm you are working in the correct one before running any analysis or generating any proposal content. Nexus AI and the proposal tool pull their context from whichever profile is active at that time.
The active profile is indicated by a gold star in the Profiles panel on the left side of the screen. The starred profile is the one currently in use.
To change the active profile, select it from the Profiles panel. The star will move to reflect your selection.
When working inside Nexus AI, confirm the correct organization is selected at the top of the Nexus panel. You will see the active company name displayed next to the profile icon. Click it to switch to a different profile if needed
Always verify the active profile before you:
Run a capability matrix analysis
Generate proposal content
Conduct a gap analysis
Produce win themes or competitive positioning
Run any pursuit strategy or bid/no-bid analysis
Using the wrong profile means Nexus AI is pulling from the wrong company's capabilities, certifications, and strategic positioning. The results will not reflect your actual organization.
How Company Profile creation works
NextStage is designed to do the heavy lifting on initial setup. When you create a new profile, NextStage pulls data directly from the company's website and SAM.gov registration automatically. This means the baseline record is populated for you without manual data entry.
Here is what happens step by step:
Enter the company's website. NextStage searches SAM.gov for any registered vendor entities matching that domain and returns matching results automatically. You do not need to look up the CAGE code or UEI first.
Select the correct entity. If multiple SAM.gov registrations match the domain -- common for organizations with subsidiaries or multiple operating entities a list appears. Choose the entity that corresponds to the correct legal entity. You can add additional UEIs after initial creation.
NextStage populates the baseline record. Company name, website, UEI, CAGE, primary NAICS, address, employee count, founding year, and contract vehicles are filled automatically from the company's website and SAM.gov entity data.
You customize and deepen the record. This is where your team adds the strategic context that makes the profile genuinely useful to Nexus AI. Anything that is not publicly available on the company's website such as certifications, clearance levels, cornerstone proposals, and strategic positioning is added manually by your team.
An important note on how web-sourced data works
Fields populated from the company's website are labeled Web in the platform. Because NextStage pulls directly from the live website, these fields update automatically when the company's website is updated. This keeps publicly available information current without requiring manual maintenance.
You can edit any web-sourced field at any time. Manual edits you make are preserved independently of the web pull. This means you are always in control of what the profile says, and you can add depth, context, and intelligence that the company's website will never contain.
Fields you add manually certifications, clearance levels, DCAA accounting system confirmation, cornerstone proposals, and strategic analysis are never overwritten by the web pull. These are your team's proprietary intelligence layer on top of the public baseline.
Profile sections at a glance
The left navigation inside any Company Profile shows five sections. Each serves a distinct purpose:
1. Overview: Identity, registration, NAICS codes, contract vehicles, and the core narrative Nexus AI reads first
2. Strategic Goals: Focus statement, numbered pursuit themes with priority ratings, and pursuit boundaries
3. Cornerstone Proposals: Uploaded winning proposals used as writer reference material by Nexus AI
4. Certifications: ISO standards, industry accreditations, clearance levels, and compliance designations
5. Capabilities: Individual service line narratives that power capability matrix scoring and gap analysis
Section 1: Overview
The Overview is the first section Nexus AI reads whenever it is working on anything connected to this profile. It is the profile's anchor. A thin or generic Overview produces thin, generic analysis. A rich, specific Overview produces analysis that actually changes how your team pursues and positions.
Identity fields
The following fields are populated automatically from the company's website and SAM.gov when you create the profile. They are labeled Web in the platform and update automatically if the company's website is updated. You can edit any of these fields manually at any time.
Field | What it contains and what to verify |
Company name | Legal registered name as it appears in SAM.gov. If the company operates under a trade name, the legal name appears here. Do not abbreviate. |
Website | Primary corporate URL used as the lookup key during creation and referenced by Nexus AI for web-context analysis. |
Founded | Year of founding or SAM.gov first registration. Relevant context for assessing company maturity and past performance depth. |
Employee count | Approximate headcount from SAM.gov or the company's public site. Update manually if you have a more current figure from LinkedIn or public filings. |
UEI | 12-character Unique Entity Identifier from SAM.gov. For organizations with subsidiaries, joint ventures, or multiple operating entities, add additional UEIs after initial creation using the multi-entry option. This is critical where subsidiary UEIs carry separate contract histories. |
CAGE code | 5-character CAGE from SAM.gov. The primary deduplication key in NextStage. Prevents duplicate profiles when multiple team members add the same entity independently. |
Primary NAICS | 6-digit code listed first in the SAM.gov registration. Determines the applicable SBA size standard. Verify this matches the current SAM.gov record, as some companies carry outdated primary codes. |
Secondary NAICS codes | All additional NAICS codes from the SAM.gov registration. NextStage auto-populates a subset. Complete the full list manually for thorough coverage. Each additional code improves the accuracy of capability matching and opportunity analysis. |
The Overview narrative
The Overview narrative is a free-text description of what your company does, who it serves, how it delivers, and what makes it distinctive. It is the most important field in the entire profile.
This is not a marketing summary. It is an intelligence brief that Nexus AI reads as your company's primary reference when generating proposals, running analysis, and producing pursuit strategy. Write it in plain, factual language. Include specifics: named service lines, named customer agencies, geographic footprint, delivery model, compliance posture, corporate ownership context, and meaningful differentiators such as a cleared workforce, proprietary tools, or relevant certifications.
When NextStage pulls from your website, it uses publicly available content to seed this field. Your job is to go further. Add the context your website does not contain: detailed capability descriptions, compliance system specifics, teaming posture, past performance highlights, and any strategic context that helps Nexus AI represent your organization accurately in proposals and analysis.
When you ask Nexus AI to generate proposal content, run a gap analysis, develop win themes, or produce pursuit strategy, the Overview narrative is the primary input. A two-sentence overview produces two-sentence-quality results.
What a strong Overview narrative covers:
Topic area | What to include |
Company identity | Legal name, parent company or ownership structure (private equity, employee-owned, publicly traded), founding context, and any major acquisitions or consolidations that explain the current capability set. |
Lines of business | Primary service divisions or business units, named explicitly. Do not lump everything into "professional services." |
Core service areas | The specific things your company delivers within each line of business. Be concrete: base operations, supply chain management, medical management, UXO clearance, environmental remediation. Generic terms like "solutions" and "support" add no value to Nexus AI. |
Customer base | Named agencies or agency types: DoD, DHS, DoS, VA, HHS, NATO, UN, state and local, commercial. The more specific, the better. |
Geographic footprint | Countries or regions where your company actively operates. This matters for global contract vehicles and contingency support pursuits where geographic reach is an evaluated factor. |
Delivery model | How your company delivers: deployed field teams, cloud-based platforms, on-site staff augmentation, prime contractor model, subcontractor roles, joint ventures. This shapes how Nexus AI positions your organization in proposals. |
Compliance and systems | DCAA-compliant accounting system, ERP platform (e.g., Deltek Costpoint, Unanet), ISO certifications, CMMC level, facility clearance. State these plainly rather than relying on the certifications section alone. |
Teaming posture | How your company approaches teaming: prime-only, prime with subs, sub to large primes, mentor-protege, JV. This informs how Nexus AI frames your organization's role on a pursuit. |
Corporate ownership | Private equity ownership, affiliates, and portfolio companies. This context affects how Nexus AI describes your organizational backing and capacity. |
Example Overview narrative (Allot, Inc. / NextStage AI)
Allot, Inc. is the parent company of NextStage AI, a purpose-built AI platform designed for government contractors. Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Allot, Inc. operates exclusively through NextStage AI (nextstage.ai), delivering an end-to-end GovCon growth platform that supports the full opportunity lifecycle, from market intelligence and pipeline management through capture strategy, proposal development, and pursuit analytics. NextStage AI serves federal contractors ranging from emerging small businesses to large primes, providing a Shipley-aligned workflow environment that replaces fragmented BD and capture tooling with a connected, AI-powered pursuit record. The platform integrates with SAM.gov, FPDS, GSA eBuy, and GovWin for opportunity intelligence, and supports integrated CRM, compliance matrix development, and AI-assisted proposal generation within a single environment. NextStage AI maintains FedRAMP Moderate Equivalency and is DFARS/CMMC compliant, supporting contractors who operate in regulated federal environments.
Notice what that example covers in two paragraphs: parent-subsidiary relationship, headquarters, what the product does, who it serves, what problem it solves, named integrations, and compliance posture. That is the level of specificity Nexus AI needs to produce accurate, useful results.
Contract vehicles
Contract vehicles are pulled automatically from SAM.gov and from prime contract vehicle data reported on the company's website. NextStage identifies active IDIQs, GWACs, BPAs, MACs, and Schedule vehicles associated with the entity and populates them in the profile without manual entry.
Each vehicle displays the vehicle name, contract number, period of performance, and status. NextStage calculates status automatically based on the period of performance dates: Active, Expiring within 24 months, or Expired. This keeps your intelligence current without requiring your team to track vehicle renewals manually.
If you are aware of a vehicle that does not appear in the profile, this may occur when a vehicle was awarded under a related entity UEI that has not yet been linked to the profile, or when the SAM.gov record has not yet been updated to reflect a recent award.
Section 2: Strategic Goals
Strategic Goals tells Nexus AI where your organization is headed, what it leads with in competitive pursuits, and where it draws its boundaries. The section has three distinct components.
Focus (the strategic narrative)
The Focus field is a paragraph-level statement of your company's pursuit priorities and market focus. Think of it as the executive summary of where your organization actively competes and why.
Write this in plain language based on your actual BD strategy. Describe which opportunity types you prioritize, which customer agencies or markets are your primary targets, and what secondary focus areas you are building toward. Nexus AI uses this to frame your organization's positioning when generating pursuit strategy and proposal content.
Example Focus statement (NextStage AI / Allot, Inc.)
NextStage AI pursues opportunities where the requirement centers on AI-enabled software platforms that improve BD efficiency, pursuit velocity, and win rates for federal contractors and government agencies. Primary focus is on GovCon-facing technology -- specifically opportunity lifecycle management, CRM, capture strategy tooling, proposal development platforms, and pursuit analytics. Secondary focus includes enterprise software modernization engagements with federal health contractors, defense agencies, and civilian agencies that manage complex BD and proposal operations.
Pursuit Themes (numbered, with priority ratings)
Pursuit Themes are the specific value propositions your organization leads with in proposals. They are the core claims you make about why a customer should choose you. Each theme receives a priority rating: High, Medium, or Low.
These are not aspirational goals. They are the proposal-level positioning your organization deploys on pursuits right now, supported by evidence from your wins, past performance, and capabilities.
How to assign priority ratings:
High: This theme is a core differentiator you lead with on nearly every relevant pursuit. You have strong proof points and past performance to back it up.
Medium: This theme supports your positioning on some pursuits. It may be a secondary differentiator or an area you are actively building toward with growing evidence.
Low: This theme appears in your positioning occasionally. You claim it but have limited proof points or track record to support it consistently.
Example Pursuit Themes (NextStage AI / Allot, Inc.)
1. AI-enabled BD and capture platforms for GovCon organizations : High
NextStage AI delivers purpose-built artificial intelligence capabilities embedded across the full GovCon pursuit lifecycle. This includes AI-assisted opportunity scoring, bid/no-bid analysis, capture artifact generation, win theme development, RFP analysis, compliance matrix creation, and proposal outline generation. All AI outputs are human-reviewable and traceable to source material, supporting both speed and quality control in competitive pursuit environments.
2. Opportunity lifecycle management software for federal contractors : Medium
NextStage AI provides a connected pursuit record that links opportunity data, capture strategy, proposal development activity, past performance references, and pursuit analytics within a single platform. This replaces the fragmented combination of CRM tools, spreadsheets, SharePoint folders, and email threads that most GovCon BD teams rely on today.
3. Proposal development and compliance automation tools : Medium
NextStage AI accelerates proposal development through AI-assisted solicitation analysis, automated compliance matrix generation, proposal outline creation, and content discovery across prior proposals and institutional knowledge libraries.
When Nexus AI develops win themes or pursuit positioning for a proposal, it reads your Pursuit Themes to understand how your organization differentiates itself. The more accurate and specific your themes, the stronger the proposal content Nexus AI produces.
Not pursuing
The Not Pursuing field tells Nexus AI which types of opportunities, vehicles, and market segments your organization explicitly excludes or is unlikely to target. This helps Nexus AI avoid recommending pursuits that fall outside your strategy and keeps bid/no-bid analysis accurate.
Be direct and specific. Include opportunity types you will not bid, contract types that do not fit your model, customer segments outside your focus, and any size or set-aside categories that do not apply to your organization.
Example Not Pursuing entry (Allot, Inc. / NextStage AI)
NextStage AI does not pursue opportunities requiring hardware procurement, physical infrastructure delivery, or field-deployed personnel. The platform is not positioned for staffing augmentation, body shop arrangements, or time-and-materials task orders without a software or technology component. NextStage AI will not pursue as a subcontractor on opportunities where the prime does not intend to use the platform as part of the solution delivery. Opportunities outside the federal contracting technology and GovCon software market are excluded, including general management consulting, program management support, and operational services contracts.
Section 3: Cornerstone Proposals
Cornerstone Proposals is a document upload library for your prior winning proposals or strong reference proposal sections. This is where your institutional knowledge lives inside NextStage.
When a proposal writer opens Nexus AI while working on a pursuit, they can ask it to draw from the cornerstone proposals in your company profile. Nexus AI uses those documents as reference material for tone, structure, proven language, and technical approach framing. This is how the best work your team has ever produced becomes reusable across every future pursuit rather than living only in the memory of the people who wrote it.
What to upload:
Document type | Why it matters |
Complete winning proposals | Gives Nexus AI full context for structure, executive summary approach, technical depth, and proof point style. The more complete the document, the more Nexus AI can draw from it. |
Strong individual sections | If a full proposal is too sensitive to upload broadly, upload the strongest individual sections: executive summary, technical approach, management approach, or past performance. |
Capability statements | Shorter documents that establish your company's voice and positioning. Useful as a baseline for Nexus AI when generating company-describing content. |
Technical approach templates | Proven structural frameworks for specific requirement types. These help Nexus AI generate outlines and writer guidance that match your methodology. |
Supported file types are PDF and Word (.docx). Upload the cleanest version of each document available. Scanned PDFs with low OCR quality reduce Nexus AI's ability to read and reference the content accurately.
Section 4: Certifications
Certifications feed directly into Nexus AI's capability matrix scoring. When an opportunity requires ISO 9001, a facility clearance, or DCAA accounting system compliance, Nexus AI checks this section to determine whether your organization meets that requirement. Missing a certification your company actually holds causes Nexus AI to underrepresent your qualifications in analysis and proposals.
Each certification is entered with a verification method:
Web: Verified via a public registry, the certifying body's website, or your own public-facing documentation.
Manual: Entered based on internal records, a prior proposal representation, or direct knowledge. Manual entries are not independently verified through a public source.
Web-verified certifications carry more weight in Nexus AI's scoring because they are confirmed by an independent source. Enter certifications as Web whenever you can link to a verifiable public record.
Certification | What to enter | Nexus AI use |
ISO 9001:2015 | Quality management standard. Verify via the ISO certification body's public registry or your company's website. Include the full standard number and version year. | Scored against quality management requirements in capability matrix evaluations. |
ISO 45001:2018 | Occupational health and safety. Relevant for companies with field operations or deployed workforces. | Scored on pursuits with workforce safety evaluation criteria. |
ISO 14001:2015 | Environmental management. Common in environmental remediation, construction, and facilities operations. | Scored on pursuits with environmental compliance criteria. |
ISO 18788:2015 | Security operations management. Specific to companies delivering security services in complex environments. | Scored on security services capability assessments. |
DCAA-approved accounting system | Enter as Manual. Note the ERP system if known (e.g., Deltek Costpoint, Unanet). Not publicly verifiable via a registry. | Required for cost-type contract eligibility. Nexus AI flags this as a gap on cost-plus opportunities if it is missing. |
Facility Clearance (FCL) | Enter as Manual. Highest level held: Confidential, Secret, Top Secret, or TS/SCI. | Required for classified opportunity eligibility. Nexus AI flags FCL gaps on classified pursuits. |
CMMC level | Enter the certification level (1, 2, or 3) and date. Relevant for DoD contracts with CUI handling requirements. | Scored on DoD pursuits requiring CMMC. Nexus AI flags CMMC gaps as compliance risks. |
ANSI/ASIS PSC.1-2022 | Private security management standard. Verify via ASIS International. | Scored on security services pursuits requiring private security standards compliance. |
ICoCA membership | International Code of Conduct for Private Security Service Providers. Verify at icoca.ch. | Scored on international protective services evaluations. |
Industry-specific accreditations | NAAMTA for medical transport, JCAHO for healthcare, ABET for engineering education, SOC 2, FedRAMP authorization, StateRAMP, and others. Enter with the full accreditation name, issuing body, and verification method. | Scored when an opportunity's evaluation criteria specifically reference these accreditations. |
Section 5: Capabilities
Capabilities are individual service line narratives. Each one represents a distinct technical domain or service area your organization delivers. This is what Nexus AI reads when it performs capability matrix scoring against an opportunity, identifies gaps between your offer and a solicitation's requirements, or generates proposal content describing your qualifications.
Add as many capability records as needed to accurately represent your full service footprint. For a focused small business, three to five records may be sufficient. For a large diversified organization, ten to fifteen is not unusual. Do not combine unrelated service lines into a single record, Nexus AI matches at the individual capability level against solicitation task areas.
How to write a strong capability narrative
Each capability record has two components:
Capability title: A short noun phrase describing the service line or technical domain. Be specific. Use language that aligns with how solicitations describe requirements in PWS and SOW documents. "Environmental Remediation and UXO Response" is more useful than "Environmental Services." "AI-Enabled BD and Proposal Platforms" is more useful than "Technology."
Capability narrative: Three to five sentences covering:
What your organization delivers in this area
How it delivers it (methodology, tools, approach)
Who it serves (agency types or customer categories)
Any differentiators such as certifications, scale, geographic reach, cleared personnel, or proprietary tools
Write factually. Avoid marketing language. Nexus AI reads this literally when matching your qualifications against solicitation requirements.
Weak example (what not to write)
Our company provides environmental services to government clients globally. We have extensive experience in this area and deliver high-quality, cost-effective solutions tailored to customer needs.
Strong example
Our team offers expert environmental remediation services designed to solve complex ecological challenges for federal, state, and local government partners. We specialize in munitions response and demilitarization services, ensuring the safe clearance and restoration of affected sites. Through advanced technological solutions and rigorous adherence to environmental compliance standards, we mitigate hazardous conditions in some of the most challenging global environments. Our engineers and consultants deliver long-term sustainability outcomes, restoring safe, secure, and thriving communities following disaster or contamination events.
The strong example tells Nexus AI the service type, the specialty, the customer type, the delivery approach, and the outcome. Nexus AI can match that against a PWS task area that says "UXO clearance and range remediation" with high confidence. The weak example gives Nexus AI nothing specific to work with.
Sources for capability content: Pull from your existing capability statement, SAM.gov capabilities narrative, website service pages, and past performance write-ups. These are the same sources that already describe your work accurately, your Company Profile is the place to bring them together in one structured record that Nexus AI can access every time it works on your behalf.
How Nexus AI uses the complete profile
Nexus AI task | Profile sections used |
Capability matrix scoring | Capabilities (primary), Certifications, Primary and Secondary NAICS, Overview narrative |
Proposal content generation | Overview narrative (primary), Capabilities, Certifications, Cornerstone Proposals, Pursuit Themes |
Gap analysis vs. RFP requirements | Capabilities, Certifications, NAICS codes, Overview narrative |
Win theme development | Pursuit Themes, Capabilities, Strategic Goals Focus |
Pursuit strategy and bid/no-bid analysis | Strategic Goals Focus, Not Pursuing, Overview narrative, Capabilities |
Competitive positioning | Pursuit Themes, Capabilities, Certifications, Overview narrative |
Past performance matching | Cornerstone Proposals, Capabilities, Overview narrative |
Keeping your profile current
Fields sourced from your company's website update automatically when the website is updated. Everything your team adds manually; certifications, strategic analysis, cornerstone proposals is your proprietary intelligence layer and is never overwritten by the web pull.
Your profile should reflect your organization as it exists today. Review and update it when any of the following occur:
Event | What to update |
New contract vehicle award | Add the vehicle to the contract vehicles section if it does not appear automatically |
New certification or accreditation | Add to the Certifications section with verification method and date |
New service line or capability | Add a new Capability record |
Major contract win | Add the relevant proposal to Cornerstone Proposals and update the Overview narrative with the new past performance context |
Strategic pivot or new market focus | Update the Strategic Goals Focus statement and review Pursuit Themes for accuracy |
New JV formed | Create a new Company Profile for the JV entity |
Certification renewal or expiration | Update the certification record to reflect the current status |
Frequently asked questions
What if NextStage does not find a SAM.gov match when I enter the company website?
Click Continue without selecting an entity. You can still create the profile manually by entering the company name, CAGE code, and UEI directly. Use sam.gov to look up registration data before entering manually. The profile functions the same way once you populate the fields, but auto-population will not occur for that record.
How is the Focus field different from the Overview narrative?
The Overview narrative describes what your company is and does at an organizational level: its history, lines of business, customers, delivery model, and compliance posture. The Focus field inside Strategic Goals describes where your company is actively pursuing business right now, which markets, opportunity types, and agencies are your current priority targets. Both matter to Nexus AI for different types of analysis.
What is the difference between the Overview narrative and a Capability record?
The Overview narrative is a holistic description of your entire organization, written as flowing prose, used for company-level reasoning. Capability records are individual service line entries, each focused on one specific technical domain, used for technical matching against solicitation task areas. Both are necessary. The Overview alone is not enough for capability matrix scoring, and Capability records alone do not give Nexus AI the organizational context it needs for proposal generation and pursuit strategy.
How many Pursuit Themes should I add?
Three to five themes is typical for most organizations. More than eight becomes difficult to maintain and dilutes the signal Nexus AI receives about what actually differentiates your company. Prioritize themes you can support with evidence from your actual wins, proposal language, and past performance.
Do I need a separate profile for each JV?
Yes. Each JV that you are submitting proposals under should have its own Company Profile, since the JV is the offeror of record on those pursuits. Make sure you select the correct profile before running any analysis or generating proposal content for a JV pursuit. The active profile is indicated by the gold star in the Profiles panel.
Can multiple team members edit the same profile at the same time?
Profiles support concurrent viewing but last-write-wins on edits. To avoid overwriting a teammate's work, assign one person as the primary editor for each profile and coordinate editing by section when building or updating large profiles simultaneously.
Have a question not answered here? Use the chat bubble in the lower right corner of NextStage or email hello@nextstage.ai.