A couple years ago, I set up daily email notification for myself at http://www.fbo.gov/, where you can create (somewhat coarse) filters based on NAICS codes, government agencies, type of solicitation, and the like. In my case (and, I imagine, yours) the filters are pretty broad and I get daily notification of anywhere from 1 to 75 solicitations, the vast majority of which are completely unrelated to the work I do. The entries in the daily list are in the form of a very brief synopsis and a link to a webpage with full info. Two weeks after starting this up, I came across an RFP from the State Dept to perform a natural hazards analysis. The timeline was very short - about a week to file a proposal - which is not at all unusual on the ones I've seen - 1 to 4 weeks, with many having about a 2-week timeline. A month later, I got a call from the State Dept asking for my tax ID etc so they could issue the contract... so the system definitely can work! I have tried trial subscriptions to some of the many, many government bid services like you mention (all of whom routinely send me come-ons based on my info in the CCR, which you are required to be registered with in order to do any government contracting). As near as I can tell, these services do pretty much what I am doing - filtering on NAICS codes and similar criteria. Their listings were generally indistinguishable from mine, although some of them do offer state-level in addition to federal listings, which I have not bothered to sign up for. I'd recommend registering in the CCR and signing up for your own notification with FedBizOpps (fbo.gov) as a starting point. From there, it may be more clear to you whether to try others' services or not. I should say I have not yet repeated my success. In the 2 years I've been getting the daily listings, I have seen perhaps half a dozen or maybe 10 that have been "up my alley" (mapping, GIS, hazards, database, data analysis & visualization), and I've only applied for 2 or 3, because I often fall behind in the listings and by the time I see one the deadline has passed. I suppose the success rate is like anything else - maybe I'll score 1 in 20 or 1 in 50? Perhaps I just had a great bit of beginner's luck! Feel free to call if you'd like to talk about any of this in more detail. Cheers, Chris Tamar Schanfeld wrote: > ** The author of this post was a Good Dobee. > ** You too can help the group > ** Fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's area. > ** If you did, we all thank you. > > > We are interested in learning more about bidding on government > contracts. We specialize in Enterprise Search, which is often used for > government web portals and intranets. > > Has anyone used: http://www.governmentbidnetwork.com/, > http://www.findrfp.com, or http://www.ebidsourcing.com/ > What about the http://www.ccr.gov (the government site) > > What other resources are there for finding contracts? Most of these > sites charge some kind of subscription fee, is it worth it? > > Also, what is the procedure for finding 'small business set-asides?' > > Thank you, > Tamar > _______________________________________________ > Hidden-discuss mailing list - home page: http://www.hidden-tech.net > Hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net > > You are receiving this because you are on the Hidden-Tech Discussion list. > If you would like to change your list preferences, Go to the Members > page on the Hidden Tech Web site. > http://www.hidden-tech.net/members > -- NOTE NEW STREET ADDRESS AS OF 1-DEC-2006 -- Chris Duncan, Ph.D. President GISmatters duncan at GISmatters.com http://www.gismatters.com/ 1 Tuckerman Ln Amherst, MA 01002 Tel: 413-549-2052 Fax: 508-637-2557