A brief overview of the U.S. Department of State and the Business Information Database System (BIDS). This information is taken from "A Basic Guide to Exporting" provided by the U.S. Commercial Service to assist U.S. companies in exporting.
Last Published: 10/20/2016
U.S. Department of State

The U.S. Department of State operates the Business Information Database System (BIDS, bids.state.gov), an online trade lead program which collects business opportunities across the U.S. embassy system. All embassies have a commercial section that will provide further information on a given business lead, as well as other assistance about the market.