PDA

View Full Version : Finding Government Contracts



phanio
01-31-2009, 10:23 AM
I stumbled upon a website fedbizopps.gov – that I thought on the surface looked pretty good.

Has anyone here used that site or its services before? If so, how were they? Were there any issues? Do you have any tips or tricks or just things to stay away from?

vangogh
01-31-2009, 06:03 PM
Hadn't heard of the site till your post and I don't think I'm the kind of person who'd be happy working for government contracts. Doubtful I'll be one to try the site, but I did do some quick searching and seems like it's all legit and the single point of entry for these contracts.

My quick search was fedbizopps.gov review (http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=o1O&q=fedbizopps.gov+review&btnG=Search&aq=f&oq=) and I simply checked a few random results. If you look beyond the first few results I did see some PDFs that seemed to have advice, though some were geared toward a specific industries. The advice might be general enough though.

billbenson
01-31-2009, 10:21 PM
What's your product / service? I do a ton of business - 30% or more with the government. Almost all is on credit cards. I never get business bidding on big projects. Someone always will undercut me. I just quote list. I've sold to Lawrence Livermore Labs, FAA, local water districts, Iraq... Did a deal in October with Lawrence Livermore Labs in October that was net 30, but I wasn't on any bid list. Buyer just found me on the internet.

If you want to get into their system so you pop up on bids, just give them net 30 on a small order and they will have to enter you into the system.

phanio
02-01-2009, 02:09 PM
Vangogh - Thanks - you found much more than I did. Thanks for the link/results. I will search for more info there. Is that common to do - e.g. "www.websitename.com review" to find information?

BillBenson - Don't need the site for what I do. More interested in finding out if this is a good site for small business owners to find and obtain government contracts. Nice to hear how you utililize government contracts.

Through my site, I want to offer more information for small business owners. One question I get a lot is how to find, bid, and win these contracts (especailly when it seems the only industry that is growing at present is the government). If it is ok with you, would like to use your advice e.g. net 30 on small orders to get into the system.

vangogh
02-01-2009, 03:19 PM
I find review is usually a good word to add to a search, though sometimes you'll get empty reviews or obviously ones the company wrote themselves. Sometimes I'll use review and some reviews.

I usually try to mix up some of the words just to see what kind of results I get. This time the first search brought back some decent results so I didn't dig any further.

billbenson
02-01-2009, 06:41 PM
If it is ok with you, would like to use your advice e.g. net 30 on small orders to get into the system.

No problem at all. That's what forums are for (if used properly :)) It's certainly a strategy that has worked for me.

There is also a system that you can get entered into, I forget the name, but I have only had one order where they required it and the paperwork didn't merit doing it.

I think that most buyers and people that need equipment right away circumvent the system. Otherwise it will be 2010 until they get their products.