To search for government contracts on SAM.gov, register your business in the system to get a Unique Entity Identifier, look up the NAICS and Product Service Codes that describe your work, then open the contract opportunities search and filter by those codes plus any set-aside categories you qualify for. SAM.gov is the federal government’s free, central database of active solicitations, and thousands are posted at any given time. The work isn’t finding opportunities. It’s filtering them down to the ones you can actually win.
What to Gather Before You Search
Federal procurement databases organize everything by numeric codes. Searching without them is like browsing a library with no subject headings.
Start with your North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code. This six-digit code identifies your primary business activity, and you can look it up on the Census Bureau’s NAICS search page by entering a keyword and choosing the best fit.1U.S. Census Bureau. North American Industry Classification System The code does double duty: it narrows your SAM.gov results, and the SBA uses it to decide whether your business counts as “small” under industry-specific revenue or employee thresholds.2U.S. Small Business Administration. Size Standards
Next, pull the Product Service Codes (PSCs) that match what you sell. These four-character codes get more specific than NAICS, breaking broad categories like “IT services” into the exact deliverable an agency wants. The General Services Administration maintains the PSC Manual and offers it as a free download.3Acquisition.GOV. Product and Service Code Manual
Then register in SAM.gov itself. Registration is free and mandatory before you can bid on or receive any federal contract, and it produces the 12-character Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) the government uses to track every entity receiving federal awards.4SAM.gov. Entity Registration Plan ahead. SAM.gov validates your information against IRS and other federal records, so the process takes time. Registration expires annually, and a lapse blocks you from receiving awards until you renew.
Check Whether You Qualify as Small
Size standards vary by NAICS code and are measured either by average annual receipts over your last five fiscal years or by average number of employees over the last 24 months. A construction firm and a software firm face very different thresholds, and a business that qualifies as small under one code may not under another.2U.S. Small Business Administration. Size Standards
One trap catches businesses off guard. If you have affiliates — subsidiaries, joint ventures where you have controlling interest, or entities that share management with you — their employees and revenue count alongside yours. Check your status with the SBA’s size standards tool before spending time on set-aside opportunities you don’t actually qualify for.
Running the Search on SAM.gov
Go to SAM.gov and open the contract opportunities section. The filter panel lets you narrow results by NAICS code, keyword, and set-aside type. The set-aside filters alone include more than a dozen categories, among them total small business, 8(a) Business Development, HUBZone, women-owned small business, and service-disabled veteran-owned.5SAM.gov. Find Contract Opportunities If you hold any of these certifications, filtering by set-aside immediately drops you into a smaller pool with less competition.
Each listing displays the solicitation number, posting date, and response deadline. Click into an entry to see the statement of work and submission instructions. You can also follow a specific opportunity to get automated updates when the agency issues amendments or shifts a deadline. Response windows range from a few days on simplified purchases to several months on major acquisitions, and a missed amendment can disqualify an otherwise strong proposal, so track the ones you follow.
Read the Solicitation Type Before Anything Else
Not every SAM.gov posting is asking for a bid. The solicitation type tells you what the agency wants and how they’ll decide.
- Request for Information (RFI): market research. Responding won’t win a contract, but it puts you on the agency’s radar and may shape the eventual solicitation.
- Request for Quotation (RFQ): the agency knows what it wants and needs a price. You submit a quote rather than a full proposal, and selection leans on price and basic qualifications.6General Services Administration. Understand Common Federal Contracting Terms – RFIs, RFQs, and RFPs
- Request for Proposal (RFP): the agency wants a complete solution, evaluated on technical approach, past performance, and price. These take the most work.6General Services Administration. Understand Common Federal Contracting Terms – RFIs, RFQs, and RFPs
- Invitation for Bid (IFB): mostly construction and commodities with precise specifications. The lowest responsive, responsible bidder wins.
Knowing the difference keeps you from writing a fifty-page proposal for what was really a price request, or submitting a bare quote when evaluators expected a technical narrative.
Check the Exclusions List Before Teaming
If you plan to partner with another firm on a solicitation, run their name through SAM.gov’s Exclusions database first to confirm they haven’t been debarred or suspended from federal contracting.7SAM.gov. Exclusions Teaming with an excluded entity can jeopardize your own eligibility. The search is free and takes seconds.
Look at Past Spending to Predict Future Opportunities
Active solicitations are only half the picture. Studying where agencies have already spent money tells you where the next opportunities will appear. USASpending.gov lets you search federal award data by agency, NAICS code, and location.8USAspending. Government Spending Open Data If you sell cybersecurity services, you can see which agencies spent most on that NAICS code last year, who won those contracts, and at what price.
This research surfaces patterns SAM.gov’s active listings can’t. You’ll see which agencies buy your kind of work repeatedly, which contracts are coming up for recompete, and what realistic award amounts look like. Contract award data that used to live in the FPDS.gov ezSearch tool moved to SAM.gov after ezSearch was decommissioned in February 2026, so run award searches through SAM.gov directly.9SAM.gov. Contract Award Data in SAM.gov
Get Ahead of Postings With Agency Forecasts
Many federal agencies publish procurement forecasts projecting their contracting needs for the coming fiscal year, giving you months of lead time to prepare staffing, refine capabilities, and build relationships before a solicitation hits SAM.gov. Federal law requires agencies to compile and share projections of contracting opportunities that small businesses may be able to perform, a requirement dating to the Business Opportunity Development Reform Act of 1988.10U.S. Department of the Treasury. Forecast of Contract Opportunities Forecasts usually live on individual agency websites as spreadsheets or dashboards.
Every federal agency also has an Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU). These offices host matchmaking events, offer one-on-one guidance, and can point you toward upcoming needs at that agency.11U.S. Department of the Interior. Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization Once your spending research identifies a target agency, its OSDBU is one of the most direct ways to learn what that agency actually buys.
What SAM.gov Doesn’t Cover
SAM.gov is the federal opportunity portal. It doesn’t index state, county, or city contracts, and it doesn’t cover purchases federal buyers make through the GSA Schedule’s eBuy platform, which is limited to vendors already accepted onto a Multiple Award Schedule.12General Services Administration. Multiple Award Schedule13GSA Vendor Support Center. GSA Ebuy State and local governments each run their own eProcurement portals with separate registrations. If you’re expecting SAM.gov to be one-stop for all public-sector work, it isn’t.
Free One-on-One Help
APEX Accelerators, formerly the Procurement Technical Assistance Centers, provide free one-on-one guidance to businesses new to government contracting. They help with SAM.gov registration, identifying relevant solicitations, understanding bid requirements, and preparing proposals across federal, state, and local levels, with locations around the country.14APEX Accelerators. APEX Accelerators If any of the above feels like more than you want to work through alone, that’s where to start.