What type of products does your company manufacture or sell?<\/p>\n
Client<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n We make injection molded parts and can do rotomolding as well.<\/p>\n BidLink<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Please be more specific, what are the names of some of items you produce?<\/p>\n Client<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Things like dust caps, plastic cases and equipment cases.\u00a0 I know my competitor sells them but I can\u2019t find any bids or DoD contracts for them.<\/p>\n BidLink<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n How do you currently look for past sales or open government solicitations?<\/p>\n Client<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n I search FBO using the word \u201cinjection molded parts\u201d, the NAICS code 326199 or words like \u201cdust caps\u201d.\u00a0 I don\u2019t find many opportunities or my results are poor with many things that don\u2019t relate.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Let\u2019s review why the results are poor to none.\u00a0 Whether you\u2019re looking for past DoD contracts or new open solicitations the thinking is the same.<\/p>\n The first thing as a general rule DoD buys things (items), not processes – \u201cInjection Molding\u201d is a process of manufacturing. If a bid or contract award is posted the method of manufacture is rarely mentioned.<\/p>\n When searching for solicitations or contract awards if you are unfamiliar DoDs \u201cofficial\u201d names of those items, you need to do some research.\u00a0 One way is to research and review all the items your competitors have and are currently selling to DoD.\u00a0 Start by searching on their names, possibly brand names they sell.\u00a0 Also look all the past DoD contracts relating to a specific contractor which have been awarded, look at the actual contract if available.\u00a0 Look at the NSN and procurement history to see how they describe it in the past contract.\u00a0 After reviewing all the past sales you will start to see patterns, \u201cofficial names\u201d used over and over. Then search using those \u201cofficial\u201d names and your results will greatly improve.<\/p>\n The NAICS codes are an Industry Classification System; they have nothing to do with specific products.\u00a0 Even according to the organization that organizes the NAICS codes say it\u2019s “not a product classification system”.\u00a0 Yes NAICS codes are used, they are part of the data associated to contract awards and solicitations.\u00a0 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 \u201cAll Other Plastics Product Manufacturing\u201d \u2013 this is way too general.\u00a0 A better use of your time, more accurate method is product codes or \u201cofficial item names\u201d.<\/p>\n Methods<\/p>\n Search the word \u201cinjecting molding\u201d or \u201cdust caps\u201d you\u2019ll 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.\u00a0 After a couple minutes of research in BidLink<\/a> we found a few words that represented a \u201cdust cap\u201d 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.<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0 What I\u2019m referring to goes beyond which types of contracts they might use such as \u201copen solicitations\u201d (which are posted daily) or a \u201clong term contracts\u201d like GSA Schedule contracts.\u00a0 It\u2019s knowing and finding how DoD describes what you manufacture or sell, the \u201cofficial name\u201d.\u00a0 By researching all past contract awards \u201cprocurement history\u201d of your competitors you\u2019ll be able to narrow down your best ways to sell your products as well as see how much your competitors are making.<\/p>\n Many companies spend 1000\u2019s of hours and $1000\u2019s of dollars on putting together GSA Schedules, searching Fedbizopps with poor results and winning no\u00a0DoD awards for items they sell \u2013 All because they’re searching using incorrect words or codes.<\/p>\n Start by researching companies<\/a> you already know (your competitors), spend some time and perform detailed research finding actual sales of items that relate to items you sell.\u00a0 Don\u2019t just rely on sales relating to codes such as NAICS sales – as you have already seen codes can be way too general.\u00a0 Find the actual items, the names of those items \u201cofficial names\u201d and your results will be much more accurate.<\/p>\n The \u201cofficial name\u201d is one of the keys for better results.\u00a0 You will spend less time looking for DoD opportunities and your results will be better.<\/p>\n 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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Searching for DoD contracts can be time consuming especially if you are not searching correctly.\u00a0 Many companies simply don\u2019t research the data correctly and that\u2019s usually due to lack of experience or basic knowledge on how\u00a0DoD buys.\u00a0 This relates to both contracts or solicitations.\u00a0 One key is the wording. With our experience here at BidLink\u00a0as … <\/p>\n![\"Free](\"https:\/\/www.bidlink.net\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Better_Than_DIBBS2.jpg\")
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