What is a Sources Sought notice, and should you answer it?

Before a federal agency buys something substantial it is required to do market research: find out who is out there, whether small businesses can do the work, and roughly what it should cost. A Sources Sought notice is that research, posted publicly.

It is not a solicitation. There is no contract to win, no price to quote and no award at the end. What there is, is a short window in which the agency’s picture of who can perform this work is still being formed, and in which almost nobody is talking to them.

Why it matters more than it looks

The responses to a Sources Sought feed three decisions, all made before you ever see a solicitation.

• Whether it is set aside. If two or more capable small businesses respond and the price is expected to be reasonable, the requirement is generally set aside for small business. If nobody credible replies, it goes out unrestricted and you compete against companies fifty times your size.
• Which NAICS code and size standard apply. That decides whether you count as small for this particular contract, and it is genuinely negotiable at this stage in a way it is not later.
• How the requirement is written. Scope, period of performance, certifications demanded, whether it is bundled with three other things you cannot do. All of this is still soft.

Large contractors have capture teams who respond to these as a matter of routine, for exactly these reasons. Small firms mostly do not, because there is no money attached and the deadline is short.

How to recognise one

On SAM.gov the notice type will read Sources Sought, Special Notice or Presolicitation. In the text, three phrases give it away:

• “This is not a solicitation.”
• “This notice is for market research purposes only.”
• “No contract will be awarded from this notice.”

If you see those, stop looking for a pricing schedule. There is not one, and sending a price is the most common way of signalling that you did not read the notice.

What a response actually is

One to two pages. Sometimes three. It is a capability statement answering the agency’s own questions, and it is much less work than people assume.

Sources Sought notices almost always number their questions, and the list is usually some version of:

• Your business name, UEI, CAGE code and point of contact.
• Your business size under the stated NAICS code, and which socioeconomic statuses you hold: small business, 8(a), WOSB, HUBZone, SDVOSB.
• Whether you hold a GSA schedule or other contract vehicle the agency could use.
• Two or three examples of similar work: what it was, who for, roughly how much, when, and a contact who would confirm it.
• A short statement of how you would approach this particular requirement, in the agency’s own words from the notice.
• Whether you would bid as a prime, and what you would subcontract.

Answer them in the order asked

Number your response to match their numbering. The person reading it is comparing several responses against a checklist, and a beautifully written letter that does not follow their order is harder to score than a plain one that does.

Use their language for the work

Not because it flatters anybody, but because the person deciding whether you are capable is matching your description against theirs. If the notice says “preventative maintenance on cabinet X-ray systems”, that is the phrase to use, rather than “equipment servicing”.

What not to do

• Do not send a proposal. No pricing, no thirty page technical volume. It will not be read and it signals inexperience.
• Do not claim capability you do not have. The eventual solicitation gets written around the responses, and being the reason a requirement was set aside for work you then cannot perform is a small industry problem you will meet again.
• Do not skip the questions you find awkward. A missing answer reads as a no. If you do not hold a vehicle, say so and say what you would use instead.
• Do not send it late. These deadlines are genuinely short, often ten working days or fewer, and unlike a solicitation there is no legal obligation to consider a late response at all.

Is it worth your time

The honest answer is that it depends on how much work you can actually take. A Sources Sought is an hour of your evening with no contract at the end, and the payoff is probabilistic: a better chance that the eventual contract is one you are allowed to compete for.

But it is an hour, once, on a requirement you were going to bid anyway. Against a bidding process where the first thing that happens is being told the work was set aside for a category you do not hold, or bundled into something four times the size, it is the cheapest influence available to a small firm in this market.

Questions people ask

What is a Sources Sought notice?

A market research notice. The agency is asking which companies could perform a requirement it is planning, so it can decide how to compete it. It is not a solicitation, there is nothing to bid, and responding costs you a one or two page capability statement.

Should I respond to a Sources Sought notice?

If you could genuinely perform the work, yes. The responses decide whether the eventual contract is set aside for small business and which size standard applies. A requirement that draws two qualified small business responses is far more likely to be set aside than one that draws none.

What is the difference between a Sources Sought and an RFI?

In practice very little, and agencies use the terms interchangeably. Both are market research under FAR Part 10 rather than a solicitation. A Request for Information sometimes asks broader questions about how industry would approach a problem; a Sources Sought is usually asking who can do it.

Can I win a contract from a Sources Sought notice?

Not directly. No award is made from one. What you win is influence over how the eventual solicitation is written and competed, and a contracting officer who has heard of you before your proposal arrives.

See also: how to read a federal solicitation, and open opportunities by NAICS code.