Welcome to Softshare iSearch

Welcome to iSearch (www.softshare.com/isearch), Softshare's dynamically updated, searchable database of bid opportunities from a variety of government procurement sources. Unlimited access to iSearch is available to any visitor of Softshare's Web site, regardless of whether you're currently a Softshare client. It is recommended that you access iSearch using either Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher or Netscape 6.0 or higher; other browser versions are not supported.

Note: Because iSearch is a free service, no explicit technical support is provided for it. Although Softshare staff cannot assist you with using iSearch, however, this help should provide you with all the information you need to successfully search for bid opportunities.

Logging In

To begin searching the iSearch database, you must log in with your Softshare-provided ID and password using the fields found on the welcome page. If you are already a Softshare client, enter your Softshare mailbox ID and password in these fields, then click the Login button to proceed to the search criteria screen. 

If you are not a Softshare client, you can still access iSearch, but you need to obtain a login ID and password first. To request a free ID and password from Softshare, click the Sign Up button on the welcome page and enter the appropriate registration information in the form provided, then click Sign Up to submit your request to Softshare for processing. Within minutes, your login ID and password will be e-mailed to the address that you provide.

Performing Database Searches

The following sections describe how to enter search criteria in iSearch. When you are finished entering your criteria, click the Search button to execute your query.

Note: Your search results cannot include more than 2500 bid opportunities. If your criteria match on more than 2500 articles, you will be prompted to refine them until they match on fewer entries.

You can click any field in the previous graphic to jump to its corresponding topic in the help.

Data Restriction Fields

The values in the upper-frame Data Restrictions fields in your search criteria are used in combination with the lower-frame Search fields to limit the display of bid opportunities in your search results. The following sections describe each field that displays in the Data Restrictions frame.

Database

If needed, you can can use the Database drop-down list to limit your database queries to a single iSearch data source. Available data sources are listed in the following table. To search for bid opportunities from all available sources, leave the Database field set to the default value, "All." 

Note: Because the information in the iSearch database is dynamic and consistently updated by Softshare, the following list of data sources may not be comprehensive.

State

If appropriate, you can restrict your search to bid opportunities that reference a specific U.S. state by selecting that state from the State drop-down list. To search for bid opportunities in all states, leave this field set to the default value, "All."

Note: You can use Boolean search logic in the Keywords field to simultaneously search for bid opportunities in multiple states. For more information, see the Index Terms section of this help.

Start and End Dates

The Start Date and End Date fields initially default to a range beginning one week ago and ending on the current date. However, you can modify this range, if appropriate, either manually or by clicking the calendar icon associated with either field and selecting a new date from the calendar pop-up window.

Note: Since the iSearch database contains bid data posted within the last six months, your start and end dates must fall within this range.

Search Fields

The lower Search frame of the iSearch criteria screen lets you enter specific data to search for within the parameters defined by the Data Restrictions fields. Be aware that each value you specify in these fields will be searched for independently of the other criteria rather than all criteria being applied in combination. 

For example, if you entered the Boolean search string "fire and hose" in the Keywords field and entered "42" in the FSGs field as shown in the previous graphic, bid opportunities that referenced either the keywords "fire" and "hose" or Federal Supply Group (FSG) 42 would be included in your search results. To search for bid opportunities that matched both of these criteria, you would need to use advanced Boolean search logic as described in Performing Advanced Searches.

The following table lists the six available Search fields along with a description of each field's purpose and one or more applicable sample entries.

Note: FSG, SIC, and NAICS codes are not referenced in some bid opportunities since they are not used by all agencies or databases. If your code-based searches do not generate the results you expect, consider performing a refined keyword search using the advanced Boolean logic described in the following section instead.

Performing Advanced Searches

In addition to using the Keywords and Agency fields to perform simple searches for single terms, groups of terms, or phrases in the text or agency portion of each iSearch solicitation, you can use the special symbols and operators described in the following sections to perform more advanced searches.

Note: To reference any of the logic elements described here in either the Keywords or Agency field, you must select the "Boolean search" option from that field's corresponding drop-down list as shown in the following graphic. Otherwise, your advanced search logic will not be applied.

Operators

To narrow your keyword and agency searches, iSearch lets you use the operators listed in the following table in your search strings.

When entering a Boolean search string, it is important to use the proximity operator "<>" in place of a space between search terms. For example, to search for solicitations containing "fire extinguisher" excluding all those that also reference "halon gas," use the following search expression: 

fire<>extinguisher and not halon<>gas

Wildcards

You can use the * (asterisk) wildcard character to substitute for any combination of characters at the end of a term in your keyword or agency search string, letting you search for variations of a particular word without searching for each variation separately. For example, the search term "extinguish*" would match on extinguish, extinguishing, extinguisher, and so on.

You can also use the ? (question mark) wildcard to substitute for any single character at the end of a term. For example, the search term "fold?" would match on "fold" and "folds" but not "folding" or "folder."

Note: You can use the * or ? wildcard at the end of any word in the Keywords or Agency field, even if the "Boolean search" option is not selected from the corresponding drop-down list. You cannot, however, use a wildcard in front of or in the middle of a word, even when Boolean searching is enabled.

Index Terms

Your advanced search expressions can also contain special operators called index terms, which are used to search for specific types of data within each solicitation, such as product codes and part numbers. For example, the index term "fsc!" is used to search for Federal Supply Classes. Thus, entering the search expression "fsc!3569" in the Keywords field would cause your search to match on bid opportunities that referenced FSC 3569. The same search would not match on solicitations whose part numbers, solicitation IDs, and so on also contained "3569."

The following table lists the index terms that you can use in your iSearch search expressions. Be aware that not all of the index terms listed here can be used with all source databases; many apply only to specific databases such as the FedBizOpps database.

Note: You cannot use a single index term to modify multiple search terms (e.g. state!ca, nv). Rather, you must precede each search term with the appropriate index term, as in "state!ca or state!nv".

Multilevel Search Expressions

If you use index terms or other search logic components to create complex, multilevel search expressions in the Keywords or Agency field, be sure to enclose separate entities within each expression in parentheses, as in the following examples:

computer<2>training and (state!ky or state!tn or state!mi)

(naics!325998 or naics!339999) and not halon<>gas

Viewing Search Results

After you execute your iSearch query, your results display in a separate summary screen, as shown in the following graphic. Your search results are sorted by posting date, starting with the most recent date. Also displayed in the summary screen are the following navigational tools:

• The Back button returns you to the search criteria screen.
• If your search results consist of multiple pages of data, the Result Pages links at the bottom of the screen let you navigate between pages.

If you are a Softshare client, a Mail Results button also displays at the top of the summary screen. Clicking this button creates a single HTML e-mail message containing all the bid opportunities in your search results, and delivers it to the e-mail address that you specify in the following screen. If you choose to deliver the search results to your Softshare network mailbox (the default), then you can retrieve them later using Softshare Vista, Softshare Athena, or Softshare Link for Windows.

Reviewing Article Sources

The abbreviation displayed in the Source column for each solicitation in the summary screen indicates the database from which that article was referenced. The following table lists the possible values for this column along with the solicitation type that each represents.

Reviewing Article Details

To review the details of any solicitation listed in your search results, simply click its title. This displays the article details screen, as shown here.

The article details screen also includes the following navigational links:

• The Previous and Next links let you navigate between articles in your search results.
• The Back to Summary View link returns you to the article summary screen.
• The Refine Search link returns you to the search criteria screen.

Responding to EDI Solicitations

All solicitations from the DAASC and FACNET databases are considered EDI solicitations. If you have Softshare Vista, Softshare Athena, or Softshare Link installed, you can respond to these solicitations using ANSI X12 843 (response to request for quotation) EDI transactions. In this case, a Get EDI link displays in the article details screen and clicking this link downloads the corresponding EDI request for quote (RFQ) to your Softshare mailbox so you can review and respond to it. For more information on responding to RFQs from Softshare Athena or Vista, refer to the Government EDI Supplement, available on eService at http://www.softshare.com/eservice/svges.asp.

Even if you do not have an EDI solution in place, you may still be able respond to some EDI solicitations via alternative methods:

• You can respond to U.S. Navy solicitations in the DAASC database from the Navy Electronic Commerce Online (NECO) Web site at http://www.neco.navy.mil. For more information on submitting bids on this Web site, we recommend that you review the Web site FAQ at https://www.neco.navy.mil/Faq/faq.cfm.
• You can respond to many FACNET bid opportunities via fax. For information on submitting non-EDI responses to a FACNET solicitation, we recommend you contact the listed buyer or informational point of contact.

Note: Be aware that in the case of non-Navy DAASC opportunities and some FACNET bid opportunities (those without listed points of contact), you must use EDI 843 transactions if you wish to submit responses. If you are not currently a Softshare client and are interested in becoming EDI capable, please refer to the Softshare Vista and Softshare Athena product pages at www.softshare.com, or contact Softshare Sales at 805-899-2366 for more information.