Getting the word - information about subscribing to 'Commerce Business Daily' - Direct Line - Brief Article

Nation's Business, August, 1996 by Laura M. Litvan

Experts answer our readers' questions about starting and running their businesses.

How do I obtain Commerce Business Daily, where the government officially solicits bids for new federal contracts?

S.B., Claremont, Calif.

To subscribe to Commerce Business Daily, call the U.S. Government Printing office at (202) 512-1800. A six-month subscription costs $162 if mailed first-class or $137.50 if sent through periodicals mail. (The lower price comes with slower delivery.)

But a lot of opportunities slip through the cracks if you stop there. It's important to understand that CBD isn't an all-inclusive list of contracts available; it lists only contracts valued at $25,000 or more, thus omitting the smaller contracts that many entrepreneurial firms see as their lifeblood.

What's more, within a few years even more contract opportunities will be left out of CBD. The Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994 requires, among other things, that agencies fashion a large-scale computer system called FACNET, on which all bids must be posted starting in 2000.

Once individual contracting offices can show they can conduct their business electronically--which could occur in the next year or two--they won't have to post contracts valued under $100,000 in CBD.

Another provision of this law sets aside all contracts valued at $2,500 to $100,000 for bidding only by companies with 500 or fewer workers. (To learn more about that law, see "Selling To Uncle Sam: New, Easier Rules," in the March 1995 Nation's Business.) Therefore, your small company has some extra incentive to keep tabs on the contracts that don't get any ink in CBD.

To track contract announcements that aren't published in CBD, you will need a computer, a modem, and the help of a services provider. You pay the provider a fee for access to a particular database of information, which you can then receive via computer modem.

Call Commerce Business Daily at (202) 482-0632 to have a list of such providers faxed or mailed to you.

Norman Meltzer, manager of CBD, advises that it will probably cost you $200 or so per year for a contract with a services provider.

A note of caution: Ask a lot of questions before selecting a provider of on-line services. A few offer only what is already in CBD, and some offer only the small contracts not published there.

One that has both types of information as well as an extensive Iisting of state- and local-government contracting opportunities is Soleshare Information Services, in Santa Barbara, Calif.; 1-800-346-6703.