Month: August 2018

Every day the Department of Defense (DoD) posts 1000’s of solicitations for spare parts and a percentage of these solicitations go unanswered for several reason, we’ll look at two of them. NAICS size standards and lack of approved sources.

There is currently an open solicitation for push switches used with a communication headset; in fact it’s been open over a month past its original close date.  Harris Corporation, stock ticker HRS is the manufacturer of the complete item and the switch is a spare part.  It’s the type of headset that a crewman on a flight deck would use.   The manufacturer calls the switch a “Push to Talk (PTT) switch assembly”.   In addition to the open solicitation the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) is actively searching for new manufacturers of this item NSN 5930-01-513-6693.  Harris Corporation is currently the only approved source.

Source Approval Request (SAR)

When a new system is purchased by DoD the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) producing the system typically provides the complete systems and all associated parts. As time goes by, parts of the system are either repaired or replaced.  These parts otherwise known as “spares” are either provided by the OEM or possibly the subcontractors that actually produced the part for the OEM in the first place.

DoD system support includes reviewing prices, finding competition and seeking new sources.  One becomes a new source through a process known as a Source Approval Requests or SAR.

NAICS Size Standards

DoD associates a NAICS size standard to solicitations they post, this restricts those who can submit bids. When the size standard of an OEM is larger than the size standard posted on the solicitation it basically prohibits the OEM from bidding.  This is a great time for new manufacturers to become approved sources for items they’ve never produced.  Many DoD systems cost Billions of dollars, are used by 1000’s of troops and remain in use for many years.  Time spent becoming a new approved source for a single item can result in millions of dollars in sales for many years.

DoD is always seeking new sources and wants competition. The item mentioned above currently used by DLA has a demand quantity of 462 per year.  With the current DLA acquisition costs in the $200 plus range, potential annual revenue could be over $100,000.00 per year for this item for a new manufacturer.

This situation is NOT an anomaly, I look at DoD contracts and solicitations data every day and I’m astounded how many items the government buys constantly that have only one manufacturer.

BidLink is a provider of DoD procurement research tools and has been a leading provider of industry marketing data relating to DoD procurement and solicitations for the past 18 years. Find defense contracts and research competition. Learn more at www.bidlink.net

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Searching for DoD contracts can be time consuming especially if you are not searching correctly.  Many companies simply don’t research the data correctly and that’s usually due to lack of experience or basic knowledge on how DoD buys.  This relates to both contracts or solicitations.  One key is the wording.

With our experience here at BidLink as it relates to DoD contract awards and solicitations, we’ve helped over 20 thousand companies over the past 18 years become more successful in selling to DoD.  The same questions from those companies tend to repeat.  This article briefly touches on a few answers to some of those repeated questions, which in turn result in a more successful government contractor.

The example below is a synthesized scenario representing thousands of conversations we’ve had with manufacturers.  Manufacturers or anyone selling a product “a physical item” to DoD or the federal government can use these techniques.  It shows what that contractor might be doing either inefficiently or incorrect.  Using this simple procedure shown below will result in a more successful contractor.

Many companies start out searching for government bids using a system called Fedbizopps.  It’s the place where the U.S. Federal Government and Department of Defense (DoD) post any proposed contract actions expected to exceed $25,000 for the public to review and potentially bid on.

The basic problem government contractors’ face is that the person doing the searching is either not searching efficiently or even correctly.  This has been the case whether they are a beginner or even a seasoned contractor.  Below is a typical conversation with a BidLink client:

BidLink

What type of products does your company manufacture or sell?

Client

We make injection molded parts and can do rotomolding as well.

BidLink

Please be more specific, what are the names of some of items you produce?

Client

Things like dust caps, plastic cases and equipment cases.  I know my competitor sells them but I can’t find any bids or DoD contracts for them.

BidLink

How do you currently look for past sales or open government solicitations?

Client

I search FBO using the word “injection molded parts”, the NAICS code 326199 or words like “dust caps”.  I don’t find many opportunities or my results are poor with many things that don’t relate.

 

Let’s review why the results are poor to none.  Whether you’re looking for past DoD contracts or new open solicitations the thinking is the same.

The first thing as a general rule DoD buys things (items), not processes – “Injection Molding” is a process of manufacturing. If a bid or contract award is posted the method of manufacture is rarely mentioned.

When searching for solicitations or contract awards if you are unfamiliar DoDs “official” names of those items, you need to do some research.  One way is to research and review all the items your competitors have and are currently selling to DoD.  Start by searching on their names, possibly brand names they sell.  Also look all the past DoD contracts relating to a specific contractor which have been awarded, look at the actual contract if available.  Look at the NSN and procurement history to see how they describe it in the past contract.  After reviewing all the past sales you will start to see patterns, “official names” used over and over. Then search using those “official” names and your results will greatly improve.

The NAICS codes are an Industry Classification System; they have nothing to do with specific products.  Even according to the organization that organizes the NAICS codes say it’s “not a product classification system”.  Yes NAICS codes are used, they are part of the data associated to contract awards and solicitations.  But in general NAICS are a relatively poor way to seek accurate quick results, especially when the only code you can find that represents the products you manufacture or sell is NAICS 326199 which is listed as “All Other Plastics Product Manufacturing” – this is way too general.  A better use of your time, more accurate method is product codes or “official item names”.

Methods

Search the word “injecting molding” or “dust caps” you’ll probably see little to no results get frustrated and end up not selling anything to DoD, while your competitors who are already selling get the business.  After a couple minutes of research in BidLink we found a few words that represented a “dust cap” that resulted in over 100 open solicitations. In fact one contractor sold 55,231 of these items in a single order to DoD, exactly what we were looking for.

One of the most important things and first things to do if your goal is to sell to DoD or the U.S. Federal Government, is to know how they buy.  What I’m referring to goes beyond which types of contracts they might use such as “open solicitations” (which are posted daily) or a “long term contracts” like GSA Schedule contracts.  It’s knowing and finding how DoD describes what you manufacture or sell, the “official name”.  By researching all past contract awards “procurement history” of your competitors you’ll be able to narrow down your best ways to sell your products as well as see how much your competitors are making.

Many companies spend 1000’s of hours and $1000’s of dollars on putting together GSA Schedules, searching Fedbizopps with poor results and winning no DoD awards for items they sell – All because they’re searching using incorrect words or codes.

Start by researching companies you already know (your competitors), spend some time and perform detailed research finding actual sales of items that relate to items you sell.  Don’t just rely on sales relating to codes such as NAICS sales – as you have already seen codes can be way too general.  Find the actual items, the names of those items “official names” and your results will be much more accurate.

The “official name” is one of the keys for better results.  You will spend less time looking for DoD opportunities and your results will be better.

BidLink is a provider of DoD procurement research tools and has been a leading provider of industry marketing data relating to DoD procurement and solicitations for the past 18 years. Find defense contracts and research competition. Learn more at www.bidlink.net

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When searching for Government bids or Government contract awards – You need to think like DoD. In our past 18 years helping clients in their quest of finding and understanding DoD’s procurements we’ve acquired knowledge to produce good results quickly, this short article will touch on a few hints you might use.

The Department of Defense (DoD) uses the National Stock Number or NSN to categorize the close to 7 million items they purchase on a regular basis. These NSN’s can be anything from an entire system such as the AN/TPS-1G radar set NSN 5840-00-679-1284, or something as simple as copy paper NSN 7530-01-033-8891 or a Pen 7520-00-935-7136.

If you’re searching for bids/contract awards on pens or copy paper you might try typing the word “pens” or “copy paper” – many systems would return no results. The reason being is that many of the systems you may be searching only use the official name and not the common name.

The NSN for copy paper listed above has the official name “Paper, Copying, Xerographic Process” and the listed pen above is officially known as “Pen, Ball-Point”. Knowing and searching using the correct item name will produce results.   In most cases the first part of the name describes the item in its most basic form.  The second or third word provides a more descriptive characteristic of the item.

• “Pen” – Basic name
• “Ball-Point” – Further describes the type of pen

Sometimes it gets more challenging especially when the item you are looking for is used in multiple applications such as a “Plastic carrying case” or “Equipment case” – the types you might see with an inserted foam cutout used for a piece of equipment or tools to sit in. That type of item is officially named “Case, Photographic Equipment” even though many of the uses don’t involve cameras.  We’ll cover how to find things like this in another article.

BidLink has been a leading provider of industry marketing data relating to DoD procurement for the past 18 years. Find defense contracts and research competition. Learn more at www.bidlink.net

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