In this blog, we’re gonna discuss three things: what is FPDS, what kind of things can you do at FPDS, and how to build your target market list. 

WHAT IS FPDS?

The Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) is a huge database of all the government contract awards.

This is where you go to search for your competitors, your customers, and the people that want to buy your products and services.

HOW TO BUILD A TARGET MARKET LIST?

In building your target market list, you can go to the FPDS database and start doing an easy search. With this, you can just type your NAICS code and hit enter. 

Afterwards, it will reveal results with information including the top 10 department names, top 10 agencies, top 10 vendors, and then it shows you account symbols. 

Of all that information, we’re going to actually go to  contract and agency names, and then vendor names. These are actually self-explanatory as FPDS provide results of people who have received the most contract awards for that particular NAICS code under their system. 

For instance, if you click a contract agency under the top 10 contracting agency name, then you will see that the Department of Air force might have given 10, 000 worth of contracts, the Navy gave 7,000 contracts, and so forth.

What I usually do is I click on an agency name and look for their top 10 vendors. Then, I went to my Excel sheet, typed in for instance, Department of Army, and then put in the top 10 vendors of that agency. I also put other agency’s vendors in my Excel spreadsheet and so forth. 

So, what I’ve done is, I’m building up a target market list of both competitors and contracting agencies that I can use to solicit business from.

I will then check more information about these vendors and contact them if they would like to give some parts of the contract that they can’t do. 

RESOURCES

Now, those are the ways that I use FPDS to build a target market list. You can just do it without even registering, so it’s a good introduction for all of you out there. 

“It’s just an introduction, but it’s the first step to learning who your competitors are, who your clients are, and who’s going to buy your products and services.”

With this in mind, if you want to learn more about the tips and tricks in winning government contracts, then join us here at GovCon Giants.

Just visit our website and other social media platforms or check the new GovCon Edu where you learn everything about government contracting!

You can also check these resources below to learn more about the topic above:

Build a Target Market List using FPDS -Federal Procurement Data System

https://youtu.be/gUbTyb2h7as

https://govcongiants1.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Build-a-Target-Market-List-using-FPDS-Federal-Procurement-Data-System-1.pdf