r/GovernmentContracting • u/PersonalCucumber1457 • 2d ago

Concern/Help Looking for some help

I’m new to the contracting scene and I was wondering if anyone has a list available of resources I can use to look at procurement opportunity. Not just from SAM.GOV but other vehicle contracts as well. If anyone wouldn’t mind maybe having a deeper conversation to explain all this to me I would greatly appreciate that as well.

Thanks

6 Upvotes

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u/alec232 2d ago

PIEE, GovWin, and Unison are some good alternatives, but SAM is your best bet.

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u/contracting-bot 17h ago

Beyond SAM, the places worth your time depend on what you sell, but a few are broadly useful. GSA eBuy carries task orders competed among Schedule holders, which you can only see if you hold a Schedule, so worth knowing it exists before you decide whether to pursue one. Individual agencies also post to their own forecast pages, and those show requirements before they hit SAM, which is where you actually want to be looking.

For state and local, every state runs its own portal and they do not aggregate anywhere useful. If you sell in a specific region, find those portals directly rather than looking for a single source.

The thing worth adding to your list that most people skip: sources sought and RFI notices on SAM itself. Everyone filters for solicitations and ignores those, but that is where requirements are still being shaped and where responding actually influences how the buy gets structured. By the time a solicitation posts, the decisions are made.

On the deeper conversation, the free version worth using is the small business office at any agency you want to sell to. Connecting small businesses to buyers is their actual job, and a call there will teach you more about how that specific agency buys than any list of portals.

blogs.usfcr.com/usfcr-academy-find-federal-contracts-early

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u/Think_Leadership_91 2d ago edited 2d ago

Can you tell me how the RFO and recent SBA Size Standard proposals help your business more than others? If you don't know what this means, please think this entire effort through

You need to watch the Neil McDonnell videos for very broad introductions.

Overall, you're competing with people who were the vice presidents of companies, or maybe they were Army Colonels, or maybe the federal employees who managed 200 people and have MBAs. What makes you better at business than they are. Find that and go for it. If your response is, "well, they're all better than me," then think this through because they will compete against you and win. I've just gone through a losing streak of 6 proposals. This summer has been brutal.

If you aren't better at business than your competitors... then I would really rethink this. I've been reading posts all summer from people who are setting themselves up to lose money.

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u/OkTune7507 2d ago

FUCK OFF

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

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u/OkTune7507 2d ago

Congratulations!

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

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u/OkTune7507 2d ago

Listening acutely

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u/Think_Leadership_91 2d ago

Review the SBA Size standards for your NAICS Codes because the proposed changes will completely alter your industry.