Instructions for Searching the CBD Databases

These instruction provided below are general and apply to all of the GPO Access databases. For specific information on each database, use the Helpful Hints and Database Contents.

Each database use an identifier code before the title in the results lists to assist the user in recognizing the type of document retrieved. These identifiers are explained in the Helpful Hints for each database.

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BOOLEAN OPERATORS:

Default Operator (OR):

The default operator for the WAIS service is OR, so a series of words searched without any boolean operators will be treated as if an OR had been inserted between each word. The relevance ranking feature will give a higher ranking to documents containing all of the requested words, but all documents contain any of the words will be retrieved.

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Available Boolean Operators:

The boolean operators AND, OR, NOT, and ADJ can be used to establish logical relationships between concepts expressed in natural language in a query. The boolean operators are used to narrow searches and make them more specific. The boolean operators must be capitalized or they are considered stopwords and ignored. When this occurs, the default operator (OR) is used. For example, a search for lyme and disease will be treated as if it had been entered as lyme OR disease.

AND - The AND operator is helpful in restricting a search when a particular pair of terms is known. For instance, a query such as weather and aviation returns only those documents that contain both words.

OR - The OR operator is often used to join two different phrases of a boolean search. A question such as "transportation OR highway" results in documents containing wither the word "transportation," or the word "highway," or both. A natural language question is much like having an implicit OR between the words, except that natural language does more work to determine the relevance of words and their relationships in phrases.

NOT - The NOT operator is used to reject any documents that contain certain words. For instance, the query education NOT "secondary education" retrieves documents containing the word "education" that do not contain the phrase "secondary education".

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Searching for Phrases; Using the ADJ Operator:

ADJ - The ADJ operator is used to ensure that one word is adjacent to another in the returned document. The ADJ operator retrieves not only documents where the words are immediately adjacent , but also those where one word follows the other by up to 20 characters. For example, a search for lead ADJ paint returns documents with the phrase "lead paint" and also documents with the phrase "lead-based paint", but will not return other documents that contains both the words "lead" and "paint" separately. The documents with the exact phrase "lead paint" will be assigned a higher relevance ranking than those with the phrase "lead-based paint".

Quotation marks can be used instead of the boolean operator ADJ when searching for a phrase. For example, the query "Government Printing Office" can be used instead of Government ADJ Printing ADJ Office. Phrase searching using quotation marks retrieves the same results as a search including the boolean operator ADJ.

Quotation marks can be used in combination with other boolean operators; for example, "Department of Education" AND "bilingual education" will retrieve documents that mention the Department of Education and also include the phrase "bilingual education". Stopwords that are included in queries are ignored, so a search for "department of education" will retrieve the same results as a search for "department education" or department ADJ education.

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Complex Queries Using More Than One Boolean Operator:

Complex queries can be constructed using multiple boolean operators. For clarity, parentheses should be used to group sections of the query and ensure that the WAIS server parses the query as intended; for example: "Department of Education" AND ("bilingual education" OR "foreign language") AND (grants OR "cooperative agreements"). Without the parentheses, the WAIS server will first process the phrases, then the AND operators and then the OR operators, resulting in a query that would read as follows: ("Department of Education" AND "bilingual education") OR ("foreign language" AND grants) OR "cooperative agreements". A test of these searches in the Federal Register database in June 1995, retrieved 39 documents from the first search and 399 from the second search. In this instance, the relevance ranking feature assigned the highest ranking to the same two documents from each search since they contain all of the requested phrases; however, it is best not to rely on the relevance ranking to interpret the intention of a query.

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Query Report:

Each search results list includes as the final document a Query Report. This document can be viewed to determine how a query was parsed, the speed of the retrieval, and the number of words in the database that conformed to the search request and the total number of relevant documents identified.

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STOPWORD LIST:

The following words make up the default stopword list used for all GPO Access databases, except the User Guide. Stopwords are words which occur so frequently that they are not useful for distinguishing one document from another. Since they are not useful for searching, they are not indexed. Stop words that are included in queries are ignored, so a search for "department of education" will retrieve the same results as a search for "department education" or department ADJ education.

adj             all             also            an              and             any
are             as              at              be              because         been
could           did             do              does            e.g.            ever
from            had             hardly          has             have            having
hence           her             here            hereby          herein          hereof
heron           hereto          herewith        him             his             however
i.e.            if              into            is              it              its
me              not             of              on              onto            or
our             really          nor             she             should          so
some            such            than            that            the             their
them            then            there           thereby         therefore       therefrom
therein         thereof         thereon         thereto         therewith       these
they            this            those           thus            to              too
unto            us              very            viz.            was             we
were            what            where           when            whereby         whether
which           who             whom            whose           why             with
would           you

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RELEVANCE RANKING:

The WAIS server automatically display the results from each search using relevance ranking. The most relevant document will appear first with a rank of 1,000. Other documents will have a lower rank. Relevance is computed based on several factors, including the occurrence of the search terms in the document title, the frequency of the terms as a percentage of the total document size and conformance with the exact search phrasing.

When searching multiple databases with the same query, the results from each database will be merged and ranked.

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SAMPLE SEARCHES AND SEARCH TECHNIQUES FOR THE CBD:

The following searches will help you familiarize yourself with various methods of searching for information in the GPO Access databases. For specific information on searching other GPO Access databases, use the Helpful Hints.

Each of these searches can be used in more than one database. As a result, the search results presented may differ slightly. These searches only serve to guide you when constructing search strings and should not restrict your searching strategies. Please note: Some searches may be more appropriate for one database than another. For example, a bill search is more useful when searching the Congressional Bills or Congressional Record databases than the Federal Register database.

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Content and file format: The Commerce Business Daily (CBD) lists notices of proposed government procurement actions, contract awards, sales of government property, and other procurement information. Each notice appears in the print CBD only once. Notices were "active" in the CBD database online via GPO Access for 15 days and are then moved to an "archived" database. Each notice is available as an ASCII text file and HTML file.

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Identification Code: Each CBD notice in the database will display in the results list with the identification code followed by the subject of the notice. The identification code for the Commerce Business Daily database is "CBD". For example: CBD: 51--SCREW THREADING SET.

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Maximum Responses: The default setting for SWAIS and the WinWAIS/MacWAIS client software is to return a maximum of 40 responses to a query. The default for the Web interface is to return a maximim of 40 documents to a CBD query. To locate a larger number of documents, (maximum 350) you will need to change the setting. In SWAIS type a lower case o at the Source Selection menu to change your options. In WinWAIS, select Edit and then Preferences from the pull-down menu. In MacWAIS, select File and then Preferences from the pull-down menu. On the GPO Access Web Searching Pages a box is provided in which you may change the number of documents returned.

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Fields: Fields in the Commerce Business Daily online via GPO Access are:

classcod       Classification Code
offadd         Office Address
subject        Subject
sol            Solicitation Number
due            Response Date
poc            Point of Contact
cnt            Award Number
amt            Award Amount
line           Line Number
dtd            Award Date
awardee        Awardee
desc           Description
linkurl        Link URL
linkdesc       Link Description
emailadd       EMAIL Address
emaildesc      EMAIL Description
part           Part
subpart        Subpart
cite           Submission No.
posted         Posted Date

When searching via SWAIS (dial-in or telnet session) or a WAIS client, a field can be searched by typing the field name, followed by an equals sign (=), followed by the term or terms that are sought. Similarly, when searching via the World Wide Web, you may type in the field name, followed by an equals sign (=), followed by the search term(s) sought or link to the ADVANCED searching pages which contain established fields. All queries that do not specify a field search the entire database.

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Sample Searches {1}

If you perform these sample searches you must use the "archive of expired notices". This is due to the fact that new notices in the CBD database are no longer published in the CBD. These samples are meant to serve as examples for creating your own searches in both the "active notices" and "archive of expired notices" database.

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Subject

Query:    "preventive maintenance"
Results: CBD: R- DESIGN OF PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE PROGRAMS

This search demonstrates how to search the CBD by subject matter. Because you would like the words "preventive maintenance" next to each other, you surround the phrase by quotation marks. No fields were designated in this search, therefore it is a full text search and searches every field for the phrase "preventive maintenance". To search specifically the subject field simply type in: subject= "preventive maintenance"

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Cite number

Query:    cite="I-338 SN00788"
Result:   CBD: 99-DIGITAL TAPE RECORDING SYSTEM

This search demonstrates how agencies submitting notices can search for a notice by cite number. The cite number is the number provided as a reference after an electronic submission has been accepted. It is best to enclose the entire cite in quotation marks and include hyphens and spaces.

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Solicitation number

Query:    sol="N0010498T1276"
Result:   CBD: 58--COMMUNICATION SUBSY

When searching for a specific solicitation number in the CBD, enclose the entire number in quotation marks. Remember to include all dashes and do NOT add any spaces.

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Part and Subpart

Query:    part="contract awards" AND subpart=services
Result:   CBD: A--TURBINE ENGINE SYSTEM TECHNOLOGY (TEST)
          CBD: A - TURBINE ENGINE SYTEM TECHNOLOGY

This search demonstrates how to restrict your search to a specific type of notice. In this example, you are searching only contract awards for services. You can choose to limit your search to any type of CBD notice.

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Award Number

Query:    cnt="C109-S"
Result:   CBD: T-BOOKS

This search demonstrates how to restrict your query to a specific award number. Remember to enclose the award number in quotation marks, do NOT add spaces and remember to include hyphens.

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Restricting by date

Query:    due=12/30/97
Result:   CBD: G--VOCATIONAL COUNSELING
          CBD: 70--VIDEO CONFERENCING UNITS

This demonstrates how to restrict your search by date. In this case you are searching for all notices with a response date of 12/30/97. You can also use greater or less signs (< or >) , as well as search for date ranges using the word "TO"(uppercase). Examples: due>12/30/97 or due=12/1/97 TO 12/30/97 The same technique can be used for the field award date. Example: dtd=12/02/96

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Date Posted

Query:    posted=12/29/97
Result:   CBD: 48--VALVE REGULATIONS
          CBD: Z- DREDGE MOORING BASIN, JONES BEACH

Posted date is the date the notice was placed in the database, not the date the notice was printed. Notices usually appear in the printed copy 2 business days after their posted date (as long as they were submitted prior to 4 pm EST.) To search by posted date, use the fielded search page or enter the field name posted followed by the equal (=) sign: posted=2/29/97.

Archived Image

Additional GPO Access Materials:

GPO Access User's Guide & Helpful Hints - Available via:

Dial-in: 202-512-1387- From the Main Menu type B for GPO Access; type 4 GPO Access WAIS User Documentation & Helpful Hints; select 2 for Helpful Hints. The guide is available in sections or in its entirety & hints are listed by database name. Files are available in ASCII and PDF formats.

FTP: fedbbs.access.gpo.gov or point your browser to http://fedbbs.access.gpo.gov. The file is in the HELP directory. Check 00INDEX.txt for the file descriptions.

Online via GPO Access: The User's Guide is available as a database online via GPO Access and can be accessed through the Web, WAIS and SWAIS. Documents are available in ASCII and PDF formats. The Helpful Hints are available online by searching for the word hints in each database.

The Superintendent of Document's World Wide Web Home Page: The User's Guide and Helpful Hints are available at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/help.html.

ENDNOTES:

{1} The results of these sample searches are described as they will appear using SWAIS or the WAIS or Web client software customized for use with GPO Access. The searches can be performed with other WAIS client software, but the display of the results may vary.

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CBDNet is provided through an alliance of the United States Department of Commerce and the United States Government Printing Office.

Questions or comments regarding this service? Contact the GPO Access User Support Team by Internet e-mail at cbd-support@gpo.gov; by telephone at 1-202-512-1530 (locally in the D.C.-Metro area) or toll free at 1-888-293-6498 (outside the D.C. area); by fax at 1-202-512-1262.

URL: http://cbdnet.gpo.gov/cbdhints.html
LAST MODIFIED: February 14, 2002