[Hidden-tech] Government contracts and bidding

[Chris Duncan, GISmatters]

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
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-- 
NOTE NEW STREET ADDRESS AS OF 1-DEC-2006
--

Chris Duncan, Ph.D.
President
GISmatters

duncan at GISmatters.com
http://www.gismatters.com/

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Amherst, MA 01002

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