Contracting Business on DLA / DIBBS

Chapter 16: Out-of-This-World Business Angles and Niches

Contracting Book Chapter 16

Out-of-This-World Business Angles and Niches

The brief said: "give me some really out-of-this-world creative innovative insight and ideas to make money"—so this chapter is where we let the imagination off the leash while staying legal and ethical.

Think beyond physical parts. DLA and primes are starving for: clean technical data, training content, simulation models, test procedures, troubleshooting guides, configuration baselines, and field support tools.

Examples of wild but realistic plays: a digital twin service for common test stands; an app that decodes NSNs into human-readable part families; laser-cut shadow boards tailored to specific platforms; or a subscription where maintainers get updated repair instructions, checklists, and QR-coded labels tied to your website.

You can even productize your own automation: sell a "DIBBS Radar" report to other small businesses, where your scripts surface under-bid niches and you license those insights—careful to respect any data-use rules, of course.

Mermaid Block — Business Workflow

graph TD Scan[Scan DIBBS RFQs] --> Filter[Apply Niche Filters] Filter --> Analyze[Analyze History & Competition] Analyze --> Decide[Bid / No Bid] Decide --> Exec[Execute Award] Exec --> Learn[Capture Lessons & Metrics]

Mermaid Block — Interaction Sequence

sequenceDiagram participant You as You / LLC participant DLA as DLA / DIBBS participant Supp as Supplier / Shop You->>DLA: Submit Quote (Ch 16) DLA-->>You: Award / No Award You->>Supp: Place PO Supp-->>You: Deliver Parts You->>DLA: Ship + Invoice

Action List