How PartsAndPlanes works
Two systems. One reads the market. The other watches it for you.
P.A.R.T.S. is the catalog: every part number, NSN, approved source and government award we can get our hands on, cross-referenced so a search for one number finds all of them. S.C.O.U.T. sits on top of it and watches what the government is buying right now, then tells you when it’s something you stock.
17,482
Open DLA solicitations
quote deadline not yet passed
13,204
Aviation solicitations open
5,051 from DLA Aviation, Richmond
11,296
Closing in the next 7 days
act on these first
16.6M
NSN records in the catalog
13.4M part-number cross-references
Live from our database, updated Sep 28, 7:30 PM ET. These are counts, not estimates.
P.A.R.T.S.
Parts Acquisition & Research Technical System
The government describes the same part five different ways, and the commercial world adds a few more. P.A.R.T.S. exists to make that one search instead of six.
Cross-reference
One search, every identifier
Type a part number, NSN, NIIN or manufacturer number and P.A.R.T.S. resolves it against 13.4M part-number cross-references, so the listing filed under a superseded number still turns up.
Government catalog
The federal item record, attached
Every NSN carries its FLIS management data, its approved-source CAGE list, and its award history — who won it, when, and at what unit price. 4.2M CAGE registrations are on file with SAM status.
Listings
Findable by buyers and by Google
Every listed part gets its own page with the identities, sources, and demand facts above, indexed by search engines. Sellers get found by people who never heard of us.
S.C.O.U.T.
Strategic Customer Opportunity & Update Tracker
S.C.O.U.T. reads the sources a full-time DLA analyst would — DIBBS solicitations, SAM.gov postings, award notices — and turns them into three answers: what is being bought, who is allowed to sell it, and what it went for last time.
Find
What the government is buying
Every open solicitation, cross-referenced to the catalog.
Most Wanted ranks them by demand;
Open RFQs lists every one. Nothing is estimated — each line carries a solicitation number you can verify at DIBBS.
Alert
Matched to your inventory, twice a day
List your parts or add NSNs to a watchlist. At 06:45 and 14:45 Eastern, S.C.O.U.T. checks them against everything newly posted and emails or texts you the matches with quantity, closing date, and whether your CAGE is an approved source.
Negotiate
Quotes, messages and decisions in one place
Send RFQs to every seller who stocks a part from one screen. Each opens a workspace where quotes, pro-forma invoices and messages live together, beside the last price the government paid and the seller’s response record here.
Track
Deadlines, awards, and your own pipeline
Watchlists report new solicitations and availability changes. Open solicitations show their closing dates and award notices post as the government publishes them. Your RFQ workspace tracks every quote from request to decision.
A day in the life of a match
06:10 & 14:10
New DLA solicitations are harvested from DIBBS and resolved to NSNs.
06:45 & 14:45
Every account’s inventory and watchlists are checked against what just posted.
Minutes later
You get an email, and a text if you asked for one, listing only what matches you.
Daily 09:40
SAM.gov opportunities from the last three days are pulled and cross-referenced.
What S.C.O.U.T. does not do yet
It does not place orders, track shipments, or negotiate on your behalf, and it does not generate custom reports. Those are on the roadmap. This page will say so when they ship, not before.