This blog explores how to make the most of OppyHound’s Basic and Advanced Search features, including its powerful ability to search within documents themselves.

Note: The OppyHound interface is continuously evolving. The screenshots included in this blog may not reflect the most recent updates.

Basic Search: Simple, Fast, and Powerful

OppyHound’s Basic Search is your starting point for discovering government opportunities that align with your expertise. With a user-friendly interface and tailored filters, you can easily navigate through various listings to find projects that match your skills and focus areas. OppyHound simplifies the process and helps you stay informed about the latest opportunities available. The interface is intuitive, allowing you to search using specific keywords. 

In the Keywords box, enter specific phrases such as “solar power” or “cybersecurity solutions” to uncover relevant solicitations. Then, click on Show Results. This action will provide you with a list of all related opportunities containing the keyword. You can further refine your search by adjusting filters like match type, solicitation type, and agency, ensuring that you find the most pertinent opportunities. 

Search Opportunity Filters:

• Federal Agencies & Organizations: Narrow your search to opportunities published by a specific agency, such as the Department of Energy or the Veterans Affairs (VA).
• NAICS Codes: Target contracts that match your industry classification for even more relevant results. For example, if you specialize in solar energy solutions, you might use NAICS Code 221114 for Solar Electric Power Generation to refine your search.
• Set-Asides: Filter for opportunities designated for small businesses and/or socioeconomic classifications such as women-owned, service-disabled veteran-owned, or 8(a) small businesses.

You can also fine-tune your results using checkboxes for:

• Notice Status (Active, Expiring Soon, Newly Added, Inactive)
• Offer Due Time Frame (e.g., within the next two weeks or beyond 18 months)
• Notice Type (Sources Sought, Solicitation, Justification, Award Notices, etc.)
• Search Logic (Exact Match, All Keywords, Any Keywords)

This functionality ensures that even users conducting a high-level search can quickly narrow results to the most actionable leads.

Advanced Search: Document-Level Precision

While basic filters are great for top-line analysis, sometimes your next opportunity is hidden in the details. This is where OppyHound’s Advanced Search comes into play.

Located conveniently as a toggle on the main search interface, the advanced search, which includes results from documents, allows you to broaden your scope beyond a keyword search of the announcement. Once activated, this feature enables OppyHound to scan the full text of attached documents, including PDFs, Word files, and presentations associated with each federal opportunity. 

Key details like scope of work, technical requirements, and proposal instructions are often buried deep within attachments. Advanced Search brings those hidden insights to the surface. For example, if a solicitation’s title doesn’t mention “solar panels,” but the attached SOW discusses them extensively, you won’t miss it; OppyHound will flag it.

Save and Reuse Your Searches

To enhance efficiency, both Basic and Advanced Searches can be saved for future use. This feature is especially helpful for businesses tracking opportunities across multiple NAICS codes, agencies, or set-aside programs. Simply hit the bookmark icon in the top right corner of the opportunity details. Once saved, you can easily access these searches from your dashboard, allowing for quick retrieval and analysis of relevant data. This streamlined process saves time and ensures that you stay updated on important opportunities as they arise.

Choose the Right Search Mode for Your Needs

 

Use Case	Recommended Search Mode
Quick opportunity scan based on industry or agency	Basic Search
Need to review technical scopes or hidden keywords in attachments	Advanced Search (Include Documents)
Regular monitoring of specific opportunity types	Saved Search functionality

 

Getting Started with OppyHound

OppyHound’s Basic and Advanced Search is your first step to smarter, faster opportunity discovery and both are available with a basic plan. 

Sign Up for Free: Create your free account at oppyhound.com to access the platform.

Upgrade to the Basic Plan: Upgrade to the basic plan to use virtually unlimited access to both Basic and Advanced Search features to explore relevant federal contracts.

Filter by What Matters: Narrow your search by keyword, agency, NAICS code, or set-aside category to find the best-fit opportunities.

Purchase App Tokens as Needed: Buy tokens to unlock premium features like Deep Dive Reports and Oppy Chat on demand.

Save & Track Opportunities: Bookmark opportunities, save search filters, and stay organized as you build your federal pipeline.

OppyHound’s robust search capability allows you to stay one step ahead in the federal contracting race. By combining smart keyword filtering with deep document-level insights, you’ll uncover more targeted leads and reduce the time spent parsing through irrelevant results.

Get started today and let OppyHound help you search smarter, decide faster, and win more in federal contracting.

How AI is Revolutionizing Federal Contracting

Historically, securing government contracts has been a complex, resource-intensive process, especially for small businesses. However, artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing federal contracting by automating document analysis, extracting key insights, and enabling businesses to make informed bid decisions in minutes.

Small businesses can now access new AI tools to accelerate their current processes and deliver more high-quality submissions with the same pool of resources. By leveraging AI, they can gain a competitive edge, improving efficiency and maximizing their chances of securing contracts.

• Analyze complex documents faster: Identify key information without manually sifting through pages of dense text. 
• Provide contextual understanding: AI interprets contract language to help businesses make strategic decisions. 
• Highlight critical information: Ensure compliance by highlighting important requirements. 
• Reduce human error: Minimize risks associated with misinterpreted contract terms. 
• Accelerate decision-making: Quickly determine whether a contract aligns with business capabilities.
• Reduce the administrative burden: It reduces the administrative burden and allows businesses to focus on strategy, pricing, and execution rather than getting lost in contract details.

 

Introducing Oppy Chat

Note: OppyHound visuals in this blog are subject to change as the platform is regularly updated and improved.

 

Oppy Chat is an advanced AI-powered feature within the OppyHound platform that allows businesses to “chat” with government contract opportunities. It enables businesses to interact with contract documents, extracting critical insights and answering specific questions in real-time.

Instead of manually sifting through pages of dense legal text, users can ask direct questions and receive tailored, concise answers, helping them quickly determine if an opportunity aligns with their capabilities and goals.

Key Benefits of Oppy Chat

The key benefits of Oppy Chat include:

• Instant Insights – Get immediate answers about contract scope, eligibility, and key requirements without reading through extensive solicitation documents. You can chat with opportunity documents to get tailored answers and quickly assess if there are requirements that would keep you from bidding (e.g., an FCL requirement)
• Faster Bid Decisions – Reduce research time and focus on high-value opportunities by obtaining relevant information instantly. You don’t need to sift through lengthy solicitation documents to determine if your company is qualified for an opportunity; you can now ask specific questions (e.g., does this opportunity require an ISO certification?) and get the information you need quickly.
• Simplified Compliance – Quickly assess whether your business meets the necessary qualifications before investing time and resources into a bid. Federal contracts come with strict compliance requirements, including regulatory standards (FAR, DFARS), industry certifications (ISO 9001, CMMC), financial rules (CAS, GAAP), etc. Missing a key requirement can lead to disqualification. 
• Increased Efficiency – Streamline the contract review process, allowing teams to focus on developing competitive proposals rather than deciphering complex language. This approach minimizes the risk of errors and misinterpretations, which can lead to costly setbacks.

How Oppy Chat Works

Oppy Chat operates as a real-time AI assistant that interacts with uploaded solicitation documents. You can simply select a contract opportunity, enter your questions, and receive responses tailored to the specific document. Whether it’s clarifying evaluation criteria, understanding compliance requirements, or pinpointing key deadlines, it provides instant clarity.

Here are some example questions you can ask:

• What are the key evaluation criteria for this contract?
• Does this contract require past performance in a specific industry?
• Are there any small business set-asides for this opportunity?
• What are the compliance requirements for this solicitation?
• What is the deadline for proposal submission?

How to Get Started on OppyHound

Getting started with Oppy Chat is simple:

1. Sign up on OppyHound.
2. Purchase tokens for the Oppy Chat feature or subscribe to a premium plan.
3. Find an opportunity that interests you.
4. Select the relevant documents for analysis.
5. Click on ‘Start Chat’ to activate Oppy Chat.
6. Ask any question related to the opportunity and get instant answers.

For small businesses, time and resources are often limited. Oppy Chat levels the playing field by offering AI-driven support that simplifies contract analysis, minimizes research time, and enhances decision-making. With this tool, small businesses can confidently pursue federal contracts, reducing the risk of bid rejection due to oversight or misinterpretation.

Are you ready to assess federal contracting faster? Sign up for free and upgrade to the premium plan today to experience the power of Oppy Chat!

 

The Challenges of Government Contracting

• Solicitation documents are highly detailed and complex. They’re not written for clarity; they are designed to cover every administrative and procedural description possible. Reading one from cover to cover can consume your entire day, and you might still miss crucial details.

Screenshot of a federal opportunity in Oppyhound.

Note: OppyHound visuals in this blog are subject to change as the platform is regularly updated and improved.

• Time constraints create additional pressure. As we can see in the Image above, this opportunity has a due date of “05/09/2025.” That might seem like plenty of time, but when you factor in the effort required to create a competitive proposal, every day counts.
• For small businesses, these challenges hit even harder. You don’t have a dedicated team of proposal specialists who can parse these documents while you focus on running your business. Every hour you spend reviewing a contract that turns out to be a poor fit is an hour stolen from your core operations.

 

Oppy Deep Dive Report

The Oppy Deep Dive Report is an AI-powered tool within the OppyHound platform designed to simplify complex document analysis. Instead of spending hours combing through lengthy solicitation files, this feature efficiently extracts the key details that matter most.

For example: When analyzing solicitation documents, select the files, and the Deep Dive Report handles the rest. It highlights crucial information without the need for manual review. What typically requires hours of meticulous reading is reduced to just minutes, ensuring you can quickly identify the make-or-break details that influence your bid decisions.

 

Key Benefits and Capabilities

The Oppy Deep Dive Report does more than just save you time; it transforms the way you assess government contract opportunities. Here’s how it makes a difference:

 

1. Comprehensive Opportunity Overview

The Deep Dive Report provides a concise summary of key elements of an opportunity, including:

Contract Value: Differentiating between small-scale projects and multi-million-dollar commitments.

Project Timeline: Clarifying whether the contract duration is short-term or extends over several years.

In the example above, the report immediately highlights essential details such as the agency (DEF Advanced Research Projects Agency) and the office (Microsystems Technology Office).

 

2. Identification of Eligibility Requirements

Bid eligibility is a crucial factor in government contracting.  The Deep Dive Report quickly identifies:

• Mandatory certifications
• Essential qualifications

By presenting these criteria upfront, you can determine if your business is eligible before investing time and resources in preparing a proposal.

 

3. Extraction of Key Contractual Obligations

Understanding the contractual obligations associated with a solicitation is critical to ensuring compliance and feasibility. The Deep Dive Report outlines key elements such as:

• Deliverables and performance expectations
• Regulatory reporting requirements
• Financial commitments

This structured approach enables you to assess the operational and financial implications of a contract before proceeding further.

 

4. Identification of Potential Challenges

Certain solicitations may include provisions that could present significant challenges. The Deep Dive Report flags:

• Specialized certifications that may require additional preparation 
• Complex reporting demands that could impact your resources

By identifying these factors early, you can make strategic decisions regarding bid selection and resource management.

 

5. Bid/No-Bid Decision Support

One of the most critical aspects of government contracting is determining whether an opportunity is viable. The Deep Dive Report assists businesses in evaluating:

• Alignment with organizational capabilities
• Availability of necessary resources
• Strategic fit within long-term business objectives

By leveraging this insight, small businesses can focus their efforts on the most promising opportunities, enhancing efficiency and success rates.

 

Gain a Competitive Edge in Federal Contracting

If you’re running a small business in the federal marketplace, you’re already up against competitors with more resources and possibly more experience in government contracting. The Oppy Deep Dive Report helps level that playing field.

With this feature, you can assess multiple potential contracts in the time it would normally take to review just one. That’s not just an efficiency gain; it’s a competitive advantage that allows you to be more selective and strategic about where you invest your proposal-writing efforts.

As you can see in the image above, the tool integrates seamlessly into workflows, with Oppy Chat allowing users to interact with the analysis and further explore specific aspects of an opportunity with Oppy Deep Dive. It’s designed to work the way you do, not force you into a rigid contract review process.

In the competitive world of federal contracting, the businesses that succeed aren’t necessarily the largest; they’re the ones that are most strategic about where they invest their time and resources. The Oppy Deep Dive Report gives a competitive edge to small businesses by allowing:

• Quickly separate promising opportunities from poor fits.
• Understand the true requirements and expectations before you commit.
• Identify potential challenges early in the process.
• Focus your proposal efforts on contracts where you have the best chance of success.

 

How to Get Started on OppyHound

Getting started with the Oppy Deep Dive Report is straightforward:

1. Sign up on OppyHound.
2. Purchase tokens for Deep Dive reports or subscribe to a premium plan
3. Find an opportunity that interests you
4. Select the relevant documents for analysis 
5. Run the Deep Dive Report through the “Oppy Chat” feature
6. Use the chat feature to refine your understanding of the requirements
7. Review the insights and make your bid/no-bid decision with confidence

By transforming the way you assess opportunities, the Oppy Deep Dive Report helps ensure that when you do invest in creating a proposal, you’re doing so with a clear understanding of what you’re bidding on and a reasonable expectation of success.

Sign up on OppyHound today and start searching smarter with the power of the Oppy Deep Dive Report!