Search 101

How to effectively search in GovTribe, and how to use filters and advanced syntax to fine-tune your search results

GovTribe offers advanced search capability throughout all of its data modules, allowing you to find the most relevant Opportunities, Awards, and more. You can fine-tune your research to your unique needs.

In this document, we will describe Search in the context of the Federal Contract Opportunities screen. However, the Search functionality works the same across all GovTribe modules.

Search Basics

At the top of all data screens, the GovTribe Search fields are displayed, allowing you to search for specific data relevant to your needs.

Item	Description
Text Entry field	Type search terms here. Use keywords and phrases to locate the data you want. Note that there is an assumed AND operator between each word. For example, the follow search term: will return federal contract opportunity records that contain all of the terms "cyber" AND "security" AND "operations", not necessarily need to be in that order or adjacent to one another. The search will also return common variants of the words (e.g., "securities" and "operation"). Use quotation marks (“cyber security operations”) to return records with that exact term. See Advanced Search Syntax for more tips.
Execute Search	Click to execute your search after you have entered all of your search criteria. Note that if your cursor is in the Text Entry field, you can also simply hit ENTER to execute the search.
Filters	Click to access relevant filters to your search. See Using GovTribe Filters for more information.
Sort Results	Click to access sort options, i.e., Due Date, Relevance, Updated Date, etc. Note that the default sort is different for different situations and modules. For example, the default sort is: “Relevance” when text is entered in the Search Text Entry field. “Posted Date” when searching Federal Contract Opportunities (and no text is in the Text Entry field) “Most Favored” when searching Vendors
Reset Search	Click to remove all search criteria and start over from scratch.
Create Saved Search	Click to save the current search criteria to be accessed in the future, and to receive Notifications when the search’s results include new data. The Saved Search will be available to all users on your account, however, only the account that created the Saved Search will receive the automatic notifications. See Saved Searches and Email Notifications for more details.
Export Search Results	Click to export your results as a CSV file, which will be sent to the email address associated with your account. Note: If you attempt to export more records than your current plan level allows, a message will display prompting you to upgrade your account or refine your search.
Share Search	Click to share the current search criteria as a clickable link, using one of the following three options: Email Opens a new email in your default email application, with the link in the email body copy, but no pre-populated recipients. Email Account Opens a new email in your default email application, with the link in the email body copy, with all email addresses of all users on your account populated as recipients. Copy to Clipboard Copies the link to your clipboard so you can paste it anywhere you like.

Using Keywords to Filter

Keywords in the Search field can also be used to filter search results. Keywords can be any words relevant to your search, such as a title (or partial title), words related to your product or service, etc. You can type just one word, or a phrase.

You can search using only keywords, or combine your keywords with the filters provided in the GovTribe Filters list.

Simply begin typing keywords in the text entry field provided. The system will display similar, relevant search terms, if applicable, which you can select if appropriate, or continue typing to define the keywords you want to use. Click Search to apply your keywords to the search results.

You can also continue selecting filters from the Filter field, as well.

Using GovTribe Filters

Use the Filter button in any Search bar to filter your search results by common criteria tracked in the GovTribe database, as shown in the following example.

Advanced Search Syntax

For the vast majority of searches, this will likely suffice. However, there are a number of operators available to further refine (or expand) your search.

Operator	Function
+ (plus sign)	Signifies an AND operation
| (pipe) (Shift+\)	Signifies an OR operation
- (minus sign)	Signifies a NOT operation with regard to single term
" " (quotations)	Signifies an exact phrase match
( ) (parentheses)	Signifies precedence or otherwise group operations

You can use the operators separately, or in combination, except for the Negative - operator. That must be used in combination with other keywords or phrases.

Example 1: Entering the following as a Federal Contract Opportunity Search:

"cyber security operations" -training

will return all contract opportunity records that contain the exact phrase "cyber security operations", EXCEPT those that also contain the word "training".

The - prior to the word "training" means that you want to see everything preceding AND NOT the term immediately following.

Example 2: Entering the following as a Federal Contract Opportunity Search:

"cyber security" + (systems | training)

will return all contract opportunity records that contain the exact phrase "cyber security" and also contain either the word "systems" OR the word "training".