Searching the web for contracts can be extremely frustrating. If you are not familiar with the process a simple search can present a list of contracts that can take days to review. How can you simplify the effort while still keeping it effective?
Tip 1: Make sure you are listed on the Central Contract Registry (CCR) www.ccr.gov. You cannot bid on solicitations unless you are listed on this website.
Tip 2: Check out government agencies “Wish List”. The “Wish List” is just that, a list of project/contracts that, if the money is available, they would like to purchase. The wish list is also known as a Presolicitation List. The items on the wish list may or may not ever be let for bid, but by watching this list you can maintain an awareness of planed projects or potential contracts.
There are many helpful web sites available. Acquisition Central lets you search forecasts by agency: https://www.acquisition.gov/comp/procurement_forecasts/index.html.
Tip 3: Use www.FedBizOpps.gov. This site lists almost all contracts over $25,000 being solicited by the federal government. There are three or more ways to search on this site. The first method is to search “ALL”. You may do this once just to get a feel, but it can easily cause information overload, too much information to be useful.
With experience you will find the best method is to search FedBizOpps by keyword and enter your product/service or zip code. Using this method you can find all solicitations for “cheese”, or “computers” or “socks” or “food services” or whatever you may wish to sell/provide to the government. You can most easily limit the listing of interested contracts by using the keyword search.