CBD Expert Search: Help

Boolean Operators

Operator	Use to Mean	Sample
AND	Both terms A and B must be present	TermA AND TermB
OR	Either or both can be present	TermA OR TermB
NOT	A must be present, but not B	TermA NOT TermB

Proximity Searching

Operator	Use to Mean	Sample
ADJ	B must be adjacent to A, in order	TermA ADJ TermB
W/	B must be adjacent to A, in either order	TermA W/ TermB
W/n	B must be within a number (e.g., 10) of words of A	TermA W/10 TermB
NEAR	B must be within 5 intervening words of A	TermA NEAR TermB

Useful for retrieving both singular and plural forms of terms and variant spellings.

The two wildcard symbols are:

• * Used to represent any or no additional characters. Computer* will find computer, computers, and computerized.
• ? Used to represent exactly one character. Computer? finds computers but not computer. You can specify more than one ? to represent a specific number of characters (e.g. term??).

  	Retrieves
  Search Term	STAR	STARS	STARE	STARING
  STAR?	no	yes	yes	no
  STAR[?]	yes	yes	yes	no
  STAR[S]	yes	yes	no	no

  	Retrieves
  Search Term	COLOR	COLOUR	COLOxxR
  COLO?R	no	yes	no
  COLO*R	yes	yes	yes
  COLO[?] R	yes	yes	no
  COLO[U] R	yes	yes	no

You may search for a single date, or a range of dates. Please format your dates in this format: YYYYMMDD
e.g. DATE=19981031 to search for notices appearing on October 31, 1998.
e.g. DATE=19981031:19991231 to search for notices appearing between October 31, 1998 and December 31, 1999.
e.g. DATE>=19981031 to search for all notices appearing after October 31, 1998. Caution: this type of search may take a while to process.

You may also search the latest update by searching on TODAY=Y. This will provide hits for the latest day's CBD issue. The CBD publishes each day Monday through Friday, excluding Federal Holidays.

You may search for a single date, or a range of dates. Please format your dates in this format: YYYYMMDD
e.g. DUE=19981031 to search for proposals due on October 31, 1998.

To search for proposals due after a certain date, use a colon and a date far in the future.
e.g. DUE=19981031:19991231 to search for proposals due between October 31, 1998 and December 31, 1999.
Or use DUE>=19981031 to search for all proposals due on or after October 31, 1998. Caution: this type of search may take a while to process.

You may limit your search to any number of the listed document types. Not all document types are published on a regular basis.

You may use the pull-down menu to generate Document Type search expressions, or you may input them directly. They are listed here for handy reference.

type=procurement
type=surplus property sales
type=foreign government standards
type=contract award
type=special notices
type=business news

Technically, Sources Sought notices aren't indexed in the Document Type field, but we have included them as a choice on this menu for your convenience.

You may search for one or more Categories. Not all Categories are published on a regular basis. There is a list of Categories in the Standard Search interface. The Department of Commerce also has Detailed Information on Classification Categories.

Search for Categories by following this format:
CAT=A
CAT=A or B or F or 99

You may use parenthesis to create logical search expressions. You may also nest parenthesis.

Examples:

• TermA AND (TermB or TermC or TermD)
  This will find all occurrences of TermA, but only if either TermB, TermC, or TermD is also present.

• (TYPE=(procurement* or special* or contrac*) or CAT=(A or D or 99)) and (explosiv* or munition* or bomb*)

To edit a search set, click on the box in the Click to Edit Search # column. This will spawn a new browser window in which you can construct your search set.

You may display any set you like, and you may use existing search sets in subsequent searches.

e.g. S1 AND S2 AND (S3 or S4) AND TODAY=Y

Use the Paste into Expert Search button to transfer the contents of your search set into the Expert Search screen.

Use this feature to see how many items your search will retrieve, without having to go to back to the results screen. Use this to narrow your search to a managable number.

You may use this function to store searches performed on a regular basis.

You may save the search so that only you can use it in the future, or you can save it so that anyone can use it.

Note: these saved searches are not the saved searches which are used for the CBD Automatic Profiles. They may only be used within the Expert Interface of the CBD Archive.

You may display the results of any set by clicking on the box in the Click to Display Results column.

When you select this, all results are sorted and then displayed on a separate page. Be aware that it may take several seconds to sort large search sets.

Search results may be displayed in the following ways:

• Sorted by Relevance (default)
• Sorted by Title
• Sorted by Agency Name
• Sorted by Date (most recent on top)