To immediately improve the efficiency of your bid searches; be sure that you’re using the right item category.
Wherever you may go to find current DoD bidding opportunities (DIBBS, FedBizOps, BidLink.net, etc.), it’s really important to follow some basic guidelines for conducting productive searches. With thousands of new solicitations published daily, and possibly hundreds for just the type of products that you can supply, you’ll simply never have enough time to wade through all the information without an efficient bid management process. In this post, we review one of the fundamental elements.
Many people try to find government contracting opportunities by searching for them under their company’s North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes. After all, when you first registered your company at the SAM.gov website you provided the NAICS code that best describes your business.
Unfortunately, this is not the way to do it. Consider the following.
Let’s say you are a distributor of electrical connectors. The NAICS code describing your business is “423610; Wholesalers of Electrical Apparatus and Equipment, Wiring Supplies, and Related Equipment.” Currently, over 6,000 companies list themselves under this NAICS code in their SAM.gov registrations. They include distributors of all of the following products:
Alarms
Batteries (except automotive)
Electrical Boxes and fittings
Busbars and trolley ducts
Capacitors (except electronic)
Circuit breakers
Coaxial cable
Electric wire and cable conduit
Electrical conduits and raceways
Electrical connectors
Electrical construction materials
Current-carrying wiring devices
Electrical distribution equipment
Electric light fixtures
Electric motors
Electric prime movers
Electrical apparatus
Electrical fastening devices,
Electrical fittings
Flashlights
Fuses
Electrical generators
Electrical hanging devices
Hardware, transmission pole and line
Electrical industrial controls
Electrical measuring Instruments
Insulated wire or cable
Electrical insulators
Light bulbs
Electrical lighting fixtures
Lightning arrestors
Electrical Lugs and connectors
Electrical meters
Electric motor controls
Motors, electric
Panelboards, electric power distribution
Pole line hardware
Electrical power transmission equipment
Electrical receptacles
Voltage regulators
Relays
Security systems
Signal systems and devices
Storage batteries (except automotive)
Electrical distribution switchboards
Electrical switches
Electrical transformers
Electrical transmission equipment
Electrical unit substations
Insulated Wire
Wiring supplies
However, when the Department of Defense posts solicitations for these items, it hardly ever uses NAICS code 423610.
When we searched in BidLink.net for open solicitations under NAICS code 423610, this is all we got:
The alternative? To get good results from your bid searches, you have to use the right Federal Supply Classes (FSC’s).
Try setting up a solicitation search in your preferred site to see the difference. A search with NAICS code 423610 will show very few solicitations, whereas searching with a code like FSC 5935 (the FSC for “Electrical Connectors”) gives MUCH better results, like this:
To immediately improve the efficiency of your government solicitation search; use the applicable Federal Supply Class !
BidLink is a leading commercial provider of DoD procurement and government contracting data and bid management tools. To find DoD solicitations, research contracting history in detail, and bid more effectively, try BidLink.net. You can sign up for a FREE TRIAL and DEMO here >> Free Trial Signup.
—-
If you found this article interesting, try another >> DoD Procurement; Acquisition Method Codes (Part 1)
—-