Cutting through the mist to see the reality: A brief explanation of contracts

If you’ve been searching through FedBizzOpps then you’re probably wondering what some of the different things mean. Here’s a brief explanation of some common things that you’ll see.

For every “opportunity” that you click on there will be a column on the right side that lists General Info(Click HERE for a example):

Notice Type  –  This will list one of several options, each representing a certain stage of procurement:

Sources Sought is where their simply trying to find out the amount of interest in a contract and “fishing” for contractors;

Presolicitation is a brief sysnopsis of a solicitation taht is going to be issued along with an anticipated release date for the solicitation;

Solicitation is the “meat” of what you’re going to need and the point at which you’re going to prepare and submit a proposal/quote;

Combined Synopsis/Solicitation is a combination of the Presolicitation and Solicitation;

Award is where you can see who won each of the contracts and generally the contract amount.

Response Date: This will be the latest date in which the proposal can be submitted.

Set Aside – There will only be something here if the contract is set-aside for a particular business type. Common business types are defined as follows:

Small Business – Fairly self-explanatory
8a – Minority Owned
Native American
Veteran Owned
Service Disabled Veteran Owned
HUBzone – This is a program by which businesses qualify based on the location of their business. I’ll go more into detail about HUBzone businesses later.