In Part 1 of this series, we looked at how identifying items correctly in your search for government solicitations and contracts can really make a difference. Now, we’ll go a bit deeper into search technique for a Bid-To-Win approach.
Many companies that sell to the government search for government solicitations on the website FedBizOpps where agencies of the Federal Government and the Department of Defense (DoD) publicly post upcoming contracts actions (i.e. solicitations and advanced notice of contracts) expected to exceed $250,000 in value.
Frequently, individuals searching for contracting opportunities on FedBizOpps are not searching as efficiently as they can. This can become very time-consuming and costly as FedBizOpps posts, on average, 7,000 new opportunities weekly, covering the FULL range of products and services purchased by the government.
At BidLink.net we’ve helped tens of thousands of government contractors and suppliers improve their Bid-To-Win ratio. Over the years we’ve had many conversations with beginner to experienced government suppliers that indicate room for improvement in how they search for contract opportunities.
To illustrate some of the issues we’ve found that can interfere with efficient searching, here is made-up conversation of the type we often have with new users of our system:
BidLink.net — What type of product does your company manufacture or sell?
User — We make injection molded parts and can do rotomolding as well.
BidLink.net — Can you be more specific? Maybe if you give me the names of some of the items that you produce I can show you how to find open solicitations.
User — Oh, we sell things like dust caps, plastic parts, plastic cases and equipment cases. I know my competitors sell them to the government, but I can’t find any bids or DoD contracts for them.
BidLink.net — Well, how do you currently search for past sales and open government solicitations for the items that interest you?
User — We search fbo.gov for “injection molded parts,” the NAICS code 326199 and for names like “dust caps.” I keep on getting no results, or just lots of stuff unrelated to what we sell.
At this point, it’s clear to us where the problem lies. Fortunately, it’s one that’s easy to solve. But before we do so, let’s review what’s going wrong in this User’s searches.
As a general rule, the government buys things, not processes. In the above example, “injection molding,” is a manufacturing process. When a solicitation or contract award is posted by the government, the manufacturing process for the item is rarely mentioned. So, don’t search for government business opportunities by industrial capability or manufacturing process.
Another related point is that NAICS codes (the North American Industry Classification System), is far too broad a descriptor to be used for highlighting the SPECIFIC ITEMS that YOU sell. In the above example (of a manufacturer / supplier of dust caps and plastic parts) the applicable NAICS is 326199 (“All Other Plastics Product Manufacturing”). Yes, their NAICS code is correct for what they make and sell, but No, they’re not going to zero-in on government opportunities for their specific products by searching under this broad NAICS code — that search will return far too many results to be manageable.
In the above example, after a couple of minutes of research in BidLink.net, we found the item description that pointed to what we all call “dust caps.” These, in turn, pointed to over 100 open solicitations for dust caps — one supplier has recently sold 55,231 dust caps under a single contract. The correct identification is: “Cap-Plug, Protective, Dust and Moisture Seal.”
So, here are the general steps you can use to quickly search for realistic government business opportunities for your company. This method involves following the path your competitors already use to obtain their government business.
- Research the companies that you already know are supplying the government with the items you wish to sell (i.e. your competitors).
- Review the line item detail on their past government contracts. Note which items you could supply, keeping an eye out for the item identifications under which the government orders the item(s) and the corresponding prices, and other contract details — to help you make informed competing bids in the future.
- Then, make sure that you’re on the list to automatically receive notification of all solicitations for those same items.
Before long, you should be receiving in your Inbox all the same solicitations that your competitors are bidding on and winning as they build their government contracting business.
We believe that there’s no better tool than BidLink.net for consolidating this type work. You can see for yourself with a free trial. Along with your trial, we’ll be happy to suggest further improvements to your search technique and workflow that will increase your efficiency and help you develop a strong Bid-To-Win government contracting business.
—-
BidLink is a provider of DoD procurement research tools and has been a leading provider of industry marketing data relating to DoD solicitations and contracting for 18 years. Find defense contracts and research your competition. Learn more at www.bidlink.net
