Finding subcontracting opportunities is a difficult process for companies without existing prime contractor relationships. In a previous installment we pointed out that:

• You need to sell the prime contractor at about the same time the prime is selling to the government. You need to be on your game many months before the public announcement comes out.
  
• Finding decision-makers within prime contractor companies can be as difficult -- if not more difficult -- than finding them in the federal government. The decision-maker is a "hidden" contract manager, not the person in the prime's more visible contracting organization. He's probably walking the halls of some agency somewhere, or on-site at a program manager's office, rather than sitting behind the desk at corporate headquarters. He's tough to pin down, hard to find. He's frantic, busy, and on the move. You'll want his cell phone number.

FedBizOpps award announcements and the Federal Procurement Data Center are the two main places where contract awards are published. FedBizOpps awards are announced shortly (several weeks) after award and Federal Procurement Data Center contract data are available about 4 to 5 months after award. From either source, the announcements come out too late for you to become a subcontractor for the subject contract, but they do tell you which prime contractors might be potential customers in the future.