Exhibit 31.1

              Certification of Chief Executive Officer Pursuant to
                  Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

I, Barry E. Backhaus, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, certify
that:

1.    I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of First Federal
      Bankshares, Inc.;

2.    Based on my knowledge, this quarterly report does not contain any untrue
      statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to
      make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such
      statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by
      this quarterly report;

3.    Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
      information included in this quarterly report, fairly present in all
      material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash
      flows of the Registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this
      quarterly report;

4.    The Registrant's other certifying officer and I are responsible for
      establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as
      defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the Registrant
      and have:

      a) designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such
      disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision,
      to ensure that material information relating to the Registrant, including
      its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those
      entities, particularly during the period in which this quarterly report is
      being prepared;

      b) evaluated the effectiveness of the Registrant's disclosure controls and
      procedures and presented in this quarterly report our conclusions about
      the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end
      of the period covered by this quarterly report based on such evaluation;
      and

      c) disclosed in this quarterly report any change in the Registrant's
      internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the
      Registrant's most recent fiscal quarter that has materially affected, or
      is reasonably likely to materially affect, the Registrant's internal
      control over financial reporting; and

5.    The Registrant's other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on
      our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting,
      to the Registrant's auditors and the audit committee of the Registrant's
      board of directors:

      a) all significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or
      operation of internal control over financial reporting which are
      reasonably likely to adversely affect the Registrant's ability to record,
      process, summarize and report financial information; and

      b) any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other
      employees who have a significant role in the Registrant's internal control
      over financial reporting.

A signed original of this written statement required by Section 302 of the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 has been provided to First Federal Bankshares, Inc.
and will be retained by First Federal Bankshares, Inc. and furnished to the
Securities and Exchange Commission or its staff upon request.


Date: November 13, 2003                 /s/ Barry E. Backhaus
                                        ----------------------------------------
                                        Barry E. Backhaus, Chairman, President
                                          and Chief Executive Officer


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