Exhibit 31.1







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                                  Exhibit 31.1

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

I, Michael W. Dosland, 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)) and internal
         control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules
         13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) 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) designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused
         such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our
         supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability
         of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for
         external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting
         principles;

         c) 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

         d) 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.



Date:  May 10, 2006                /s/ Michael W. Dosland
                                   ----------------------
                                   Michael W. Dosland, President and Chief
                                      Executive Officer