Subcontractor
A subcontractor performs part of a contract under the prime contractor rather than the buyer directly. In proposals, subs contribute their sections and credentials to the prime's response; post-award, their obligations flow from the subcontract, not the buyer's contract.
Subcontracting is how teams assemble capability without merger: specialists deliver their slice under the prime's accountability umbrella. For the proposal, the sub's job is making its content integrable — qualifications, resumes, and approach text in the prime's structure and voice, delivered on the prime's calendar. The sub's business risks live in the paper: workshare promised in teaming agreements versus workshare delivered, payment terms tied to the prime's receipt of funds, and flow-down clauses accepted wholesale without review. Serving as a reliable sub is also a capture strategy — past performance earned on someone else's prime contract becomes the credential for priming the next one.
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