If you’ve registered (or been thinking about registering) for the SBA’s System for Award Management, you’ve probably heard the acronym “DSBS” before. This is because it’s one of the cornerstones of your presence as a vendor in the federal marketplace, and can have a huge influence on how procurement officers evaluate your viability for contracting opportunities.
What is the DSBS?
Before we get to that, we need to understand what DSBS stands for and what its purpose is. DSBS, or the Dynamic Small Business Search, is a database that helps contracting officers identify contractors for potential opportunities. This tool is managed by the SBA (Small Business Administration) and is essentially a search engine for finding small businesses.
What are the prerequisites for DSBS registration?
The only requirements for registering in the DSBS are that you’ve completed your SAM Registration and meet the criteria for a small business according to the SBA’s size standards. Once these are completed and met, you’ll be shown a link to the SBA’s Supplemental page and a button labeled “Register or Update SBA Profile,” which will allow you to enter your company’s information into a DSBS profile.
Who uses DSBS?
While the DSBS is publicly available to anyone with an internet connection, the primary group that uses it are procurement officers looking for vendors to fulfill their contracts. It allows them to search and filter by criteria and capabilities, as well as other useful tools to help them narrow their search and find viable candidates. The other major group that uses DSBS are the small businesses themselves, who can look at other competing profiles to view their growth, customers, and more.
Benefits of having a strong DSBS profile
So now that we understand the purpose of having a DSBS profile, it’s critical to make sure that yours is optimized. Having a strong listing not only shows contracting officers that you can meet the requirements of a given opportunity, but that you’re better suited to be awarded the contract than other competing firms. Some benefits of a compelling DSBS profile include:
- Wider visibility: Choosing the right keywords and strategy for your profile can allow you to be discovered by more procurement officers in a wider variety of searches.
- Feature prominently: Those same keywords and strategies can also push you higher up the results, making it easier to be seen.
- Improve your odds: Having a strong profile that conveys your qualifications and value in an efficient manner also increases the likelihood that your company will be awarded the contract in the end.
As you can see, having an optimized DSBS listing can result in significant improvements to the most critical aspects of federal contracting. From how much you appear in searches, to how visible you are in each, to your chances of being selected once identified, a good DSBS profile can make or break your contracting efforts.
How to update your DSBS profile
With that being said, you might feel like you should update your profile now. Thankfully, changing the information on the DSBS is relatively straightforward. While the “Register or Update SBA Profile” button on the SBA Supplemental page can often be broken, you can get around this by accessing the DSBS portal through the GLS (General Login System). To do this, go to https://connect.sba.gov/ and log in with your GLS account (or register if you don’t already have one). Once logged in, you can request access to PRO-NET/DSBS, click “SBA Profile,” and then use the link provided to update your DSBS profile.
Get an expert overhaul of your DSBS profile
There’s a lot that goes into crafting a strong DSBS listing, and it’s not just about highlighting your company’s strengths. From the keywords you choose to target to your 255-character Capabilities Narrative, having a professionally-optimized profile will impact your visibility and appeal to procuring agencies. At FAMR, we’ve been helping businesses in the federal contracting space for nearly a decade. Take your chances of winning contracts to the next level today with our DSBS services!
