http://farsite.hill.af.mil/
In our years of experience, this is the best location to find up to date FAR regulations – and without any advertisements. I plan to do a screencast at some point to help others navigate it. By the way, to call me out on that promise, if you read this before I post the screencast, send me an email at Kevin@contractingofficerpodcast.com and ask me when I’m going to do the FAR Site screencast.
http://www.usaspending.gov/
This site is a great place to see which agencies are spending money in which NAICS and with which companies. In general, it’s a great way to learn where a lot (but not all) of your tax dollars go. In specific, you can actually search by agency, office, contractor, NAICS, location, fiscal year, etc and get some decent intel on contracts. You can even download the Excel versions and slice and dice the data too. It’s not as easy to use as some tools, but then again, it’s free.
I plan to do a screencast at some point to help others navigate it. By the way, to call me out on that promise, if you read this before I post the screencast, send me an email at Kevin@contractingofficerpodcast.com and ask me when I’m going to do the FAR Site screencast
https://www.fpds.gov
This site is similar USA Spending, but it offers a bit more fidelity into the same data. It also has what I see as a more powerful search tool, although opinions vary on that. I suppose the main difference is that FPDS is made for data mining.
https://www.sba.gov
This is the home for most things small business. It has LOTS of free information on all manner of topics. Bottom line, if you have the time to research an issue or question, this is a great place to start. It’s not the cure for all situations, but then again, it’s free too.
http://www.fbo.gov/
This one you probably know. But in case you don’t, I wanted to make sure you do. This is the place where the vast majority of federal requirements are posted. This is where you’ll find most opportunities, intel, competitors, etc. For the majority of government purchases, if there’s going to be a contract to buy it, it started here. In terms of where the money goes in the federal procurement, think of fbo.gov as the entry point and the USA Spending as the exit point.
This is also the site that most data aggregators are pulling opportunities from. Don’t let them tell you this information is not free. However, let’s be fair and point out that if they are searching and managing the data for you, then that’s where they are bringing value. I just want to make sure people know that you do not need to pay for access to these opportunities.
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