Coco, you are correct—the FPDS.gov website and its companion ezSearch tool are no more, and the entry point for the system and the data are now through SAM.gov.
While the old ezSearch tool was available to anyone with an internet connection, access to contract award data through SAM requires the user to be logged in. For those that are frustrated by that fact, USAspending.gov is still a free, open-to-everyone alternative and offers both search capability and exporting of contract award data to Excel/csv.
When signed into SAM, the previous ezSearch functionality is in, as suggested by formerfed, the Contracting domain, but specifically within the Contract Awards subdomain. “How” you search the data is dramatically different in this new interface. You will just have to experiment with it, learn the idiosyncrasies of the new tool, and understand and accept the layout of the search results.
Within Contract Awards, once you narrow down your search using the parameter filters on the left-hand side, you can Download the results to Excel/csv (or pdf) by clicking on the Actions button (with the 3 stacked dots) near the upper right-hand portion of the site. You can also save your searches using the Actions button, if you have recurring needs for the same types of information.
If the Contract Awards search and output results are not good enough in comparison to what you enjoyed about ezSearch, then you might need to buckle up and learn to use the Award/IDV Information Report tool within the Data Bank by selecting the Ad Hoc Report Type. This offers maximum search granularity and output capability, and once mastered, you may not need or want to use anything else.
Good luck. Lots of tools and options still available. RIP ezSearch.
Wayne
By
awhinton ·
