Don’t Panic, FedBizOpps Is Working. It Just Has a New IP.

Federal employees, vendors, researchers and reporters, alike, rely on the FedBizOpps website as a repository of all things federal contracting. But some more security-minded users might have trouble accessing the site lately.

FBO.gov was recently switched to a new hosting environment by the contractor that manages the site, Symplicity Corporation. The General Services Administration directed questions on why the change was necessary to the company, which did not return requests for comment.

Users with strong security measures that restrict access to only a handful of known websites—a practice known as whitelisting—might not be able to get to the site until the new IP address is added to the approved list.

For example, “[I]f your company has an interface with FBO, such as using the file transfer protocol or receiving email confirmations, you’ll want to check on local IT security requirements to see if these transactions are affected,” Ken Goldman, GSA lead communications specialists, wrote in a post on the agency’s Interact site. “For instance, if your company pulls from the FTP on an automatic or regular basis, you may not receive a confirmation notice because the IP address must be whitelisted.”

Users who still have trouble accessing the site after whitelisting the new IP can contact the site program manager through GSA.