Knowing some basics on how the Government buyer describes, in a solicitation, the item they are looking to purchase can be a great benefit when looking for business opportunities for your company.

If you are company such as a Machine Shop or Job Shop, with no set product line this information will help you locate solicitations for items which you can provide to the Government. If you are a Job Shop who has typically produced items for other companies (not the Government) you have to change your thinking when it comes to selling to the Government.


Typically when producing a part for another company (not the Government) you normally deal with the person or department who has the knowledge of what that item is used for and how it is to be manufactured. The difference when selling to the Government is that your contact is the buyer and they will not usually have this type of information. The Government buyers job is to convert requests for ‘items’ from the thousands of military users around the world to solicitations for these ‘items’ which eventually turn into orders for these items. The buyers job is to create the solicitation and manage the contract, that is their job. They have nothing to do with how the item is produced or what it is made from. The solicitation will typically mention the Item Name or NSN they are looking to purchase, this article will touch on a few basic techniques on how to search for items such as this.


Much of the equipment and systems the DoD procures relate to items manufactured from some kind of raw material such as metal or plastic. If an item the DoD purchases relates to a system, vehicle or some type of personal equipment, the item will more than likely have a NSN associated to it. There are millions of these items ranging from something small and simple such as a bracket to a total system. These items are typically coded with what is known as a National Stock Number or (NSN). The NSN is a 13 digit number which begins with a FSC (Federal Supply Class). The FSC basically describes the class or category of the item such as FSC 5310 is defined as the category for Nuts and Washers. For example the NSN 5310-01-127-7115 is flat washer with an ‘Item Name’ of WASHER,FLAT.


The NSN is typically associated to over 150 fields of valuable data (which is displayed in BidLink) and describes that specific item. One of the key fields of data which describes the item is known as the Item Name. The Item Name is the Governments official identification for the item; by definition the official Item Name can consist of up to 19 characters to describe the item. An example would be ‘Washer, Flat’.



Searching for open solicitations - One of the best ways to search for open solicitations is to use either the FSC or Item Name or a combination of both of them.


Once you have created your search (for example FSC 5310 – nuts and washers) you click search and see a list of open solicitations. On the left side of the screen is the list of solicitations and the right side of the screen shows the details for the selected solicitation. Simply move your mouse to the right side of the screen "Bid Details" and use your mouse scroll wheel to view all the details. If the item is associated to a NSN there will be heading called “NSN Summary”. This is where you want to concentrate to quickly learn about this specific item. There is a section as you scroll down the page labeled “Technical Characteristics” down towards the bottom. This section (window shade) must be open to view the contents. Many of the NSN's will contain technical characteristics; some will not, it all depends on what data the Government possess. This section may help you to quickly determining if this item is something you may consider bidding on. There is a lot of information contained within the NSN summary page so be sure to click on any header to learn more about the data displayed within that field. The DoD will not describe how to make the item within the bid details or the technical characteristics but viewing this will help you in the determination process deciding whether or not to bid.

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