My Top Ten Most Useful Links for Government Sales

February 22, 2024 | Uncategorized

Image made in Canva 

Here are some important things to understand about this list. One, its not comprehensive. Two, they’re not in any specific order. I put them down as I thought about them. Three, this is my list. I” ‘m sure other folks top ten will be different. So here they are:

• SAM.gov: This is your official gateway to federal contracting opportunities in three ways:

1. 1. 1. Registering of your business is necessary to win a government contract. 
      2. Use the SAM Databank to review award history. It takes some practice to master but a lot of competitive data can be found here, setting you up for a comprehensive sales strategy
      3. It hosts all acquisition opportunities, including pre-solicitation notices, solicitation notices, award notices, and sole source notices. Set up your search criteria, and check it for opportunities over your morning cup of coffee

• Buy.GSA.Gov:The biggest takeaway from this site is the Pricing Intelligence Suite where you can find the Labor Category Ceiling Rates tool. This tool allows you to do competitive research other GSA Schedule holders and their pricing for hourly services. Doing your research on this is a must BEFORE getting a GSA Schedule.

• GSAElibrary: An excellent tool to share the scope of each GSA Schedule Special Item Number (SIN). It also shares each company that has a specific SIN assignment allowing companies to see how many companies are under each SIN, who those companies are, their contact information, and their set aside status.

• GSAAdvantage.gov: Want to know if a company is already selling the same product you sell on their GSA Schedule and how much they’re selling it for? This website can help you do valuable market research to determine the price you need to offer to be competitive. It can also be a great place for manufacturers to identify companies that may be interested in distributing their products on GSA Schedule.

• Small Business Utilization Dashboard: This site helps you understand the overall utilization of small businesses for contract awards including breaking it down by socioeconomic status AND agency. This is a valuable tool to see which agencies have a propensity to buy from specific socioeconomic categories.

• FAS Schedule Sales Query: Want to know how many dollars are obligated to a specific SIN on the GSA Schedule? Want to know how many dollars were obligated to a specific company’s GSA Schedule for a specific time period? Here’s your site!

• USASpending.gov: Gain transparency into federal spending and identify potential partnership opportunities. This is a little more user friendly than the SAM Databank but does not provide as much detail.

• GSA eBuy: This site is where you can see opportunities specifically for companies that have GSA Schedules. Only companies that have GSA Schedules can see these opportunities AND they can only see the opportunities for the SIN in which is assigned to their specific schedule.

• DSBS: The Dynamic Small Business Search (DSBS) is an excellent tool to do competitive research as well as find teaming partners. It allows you to filter by specific criteria like socioeconomic status as well as keywords, NAICS Codes, and GSA Schedule holders. The best feature is it includes contact information for a specific company. As the name implies, only small businesses are included in this database.

• Acquisition.gov: Acquisition.gov includes the entire FAR and the regulations specific to each agency like the DFARS (Department of Defense Acquisition Regulations) and VAAR (VA Acquisition Regulations). It also has a handy search tool so you can use keywords to find FAR clauses that may apply to your specific situation you’re researching. It also includes a section on government procurement forecasts by agency.

As stated, these are the ones I work with on a regular basis. I know there are many others including DIBBs, VA’s Federal Supply Schedule Service, and the SBA Datahub. If you feel I’ve left out one that is important, please share it in the comments section. 

Comments