SBA Dynamic Small Business Search Scraper

Build focused federal supplier lists from the official SBA Dynamic Small Business Search (DSBS), now called SBA Small Business Search. Search public profiles by company or capability, state, NAICS industry, active SBA certification, and SAM.gov status, then export normalized records to JSON, CSV, Excel, or your data pipeline.

The Actor is designed for repeatable government-contracting outreach rather than a one-off copy-and-paste workflow. Every result preserves stable public identifiers and a link back to the official SBA profile.

What does this SBA supplier search Actor do?

The Actor sends the same structured filters used by the public SBA search application to its official anonymous JSON endpoint. It then:

1. validates your search filters;
2. retrieves matching public supplier profiles;
3. deduplicates suppliers by UEI, CAGE code, and SBA entity ID;
4. optionally requests each supplier's public detail endpoint;
5. normalizes useful identity, contact, location, industry, certification, capability, and SAM fields;
6. saves up to your requested limit in the default Apify dataset.

No SBA login is required. The Actor does not bypass private pages or expose non-public account data.

Who is it for?

• Government business-development teams building segmented outreach lists.
• Prime contractors looking for certified teaming and subcontracting partners.
• Procurement analysts comparing supplier coverage by state, NAICS, or certification.
• Supplier-diversity teams sourcing 8(a), HUBZone, WOSB, EDWOSB, VOSB, or SDVOSB firms.
• Data teams refreshing a structured SBA supplier table on a schedule.
• Researchers performing reproducible analysis with source URLs and retrieval timestamps.

Why use this Actor instead of manual DSBS search?

Manual search is useful for inspecting a few profiles, but recurring supplier discovery needs consistent filters and reusable output. This Actor provides:

• combined company, capability, geography, NAICS, certification, and SAM filters;
• user-friendly certification names instead of undocumented source codes;
• typed records that work directly in spreadsheets and databases;
• bounded output through maxItems;
• optional profile-detail enrichment;
• deterministic retries for temporary upstream failures;
• graceful fallback to search data if one detail request fails;
• no automatic paid proxy or browser fallback.

What SBA DSBS data can I extract?

Group	Output fields
Business identity	legalBusinessName, dbaName, entityDetailId
Federal identifiers	uei, cageCode
Public contacts	contactPerson, email, phone, fax
Web presence	website, additionalWebsite, capabilitiesLink
Location	address1, address2, city, state, zipcode, county, congressionalDistrict
Industry	naicsPrimary, naicsAllCodes
Qualifications	certifications, businessTypes, activeSamRegistration, samExtractCode
Capabilities	keywords, capabilitiesNarrative
Provenance	profileUrl, sourceUrl, lastUpdateDate, scrapedAt

Fields can be null when a business has not published them in its SBA profile.

How to run the SBA Dynamic Small Business Search

1. Open the Actor and click Try for free.
2. Enter at least one filter: a search term, state, NAICS code, certification, capability keyword, or active SAM requirement.
3. Choose the maximum number of supplier profiles.
4. Turn on profile enrichment only when you need detail-endpoint data.
5. Click Start.
6. Open the Dataset tab to preview or export JSON, CSV, XML, RSS, or Excel.

A useful first run is:

{
  "searchTerm": "cybersecurity",
  "stateCodes": ["VA"],
  "maxItems": 20
}

Input parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
searchTerm	string	—	Company, DBA, product, service, or capability text.
stateCodes	string[]	—	Two-letter U.S. state or territory codes, such as VA or PR.
naicsCodes	string[]	—	Two-to-six-digit NAICS codes, such as 541511.
primaryNaicsOnly	boolean	false	Require a supplied NAICS code to be the profile's primary NAICS.
certifications	string[]	—	Any of 8(a), HUBZone, WOSB, EDWOSB, VOSB, or SDVOSB.
keywords	string[]	—	Capability keywords interpreted by the official source.
activeSamOnly	boolean	false	Require the source to mark the supplier's SAM.gov registration active.
includeProfileDetails	boolean	false	Request the official detail endpoint for each accepted supplier.
maxItems	integer	100	Save 1–1,000 supplier profiles.

At least one search filter is required. Invalid state codes, malformed NAICS codes, unsupported certifications, and out-of-range limits fail early with a clear error.

Search examples

Find suppliers by company or capability

{
  "searchTerm": "cybersecurity",
  "maxItems": 100
}

Find Virginia 8(a) software contractors

{
  "stateCodes": ["VA"],
  "naicsCodes": ["541511"],
  "certifications": ["8(a)"],
  "maxItems": 100
}

Build an active-SAM HUBZone construction list

{
  "searchTerm": "construction",
  "certifications": ["HUBZone"],
  "activeSamOnly": true,
  "includeProfileDetails": true,
  "maxItems": 100
}

Output example

The following shape is based on a real current local run; contact values are shortened here for readability.

{
  "legalBusinessName": "INFONET TECHNOLOGIES LLC",
  "dbaName": "INFONET TECHNOLOGIES LIMITED LIABILITY CO",
  "uei": "KQFDMBNFLX23",
  "cageCode": "84JG5",
  "entityDetailId": 410061,
  "contactPerson": "SAMPATH PATURI",
  "email": "spaturi@infonetllc.com",
  "phone": "2484269080",
  "city": "WIXOM",
  "state": "Michigan",
  "zipcode": "48393",
  "naicsPrimary": "541511",
  "naicsAllCodes": ["541511", "541512", "541513", "541519", "611420"],
  "keywords": ["Software Consulting", "Computer Programming", "Data Analytics"],
  "capabilitiesNarrative": "Custom Software Development IT Consulting Cybersecurity Solutions...",
  "certifications": [],
  "businessTypes": ["Small business"],
  "activeSamRegistration": false,
  "lastUpdateDate": "2024-02-02T00:00:00.000Z",
  "profileUrl": "https://search.certifications.sba.gov/profile/KQFDMBNFLX23/84JG5",
  "sourceUrl": "https://search.certifications.sba.gov",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-09-17T06:10:06.969Z"
}

How much does it cost to export SBA supplier profiles?

The Actor uses pay-per-event pricing:

• Start: $0.005 once per run.
• Supplier profile: the active tier price per saved dataset row. The current configuration ranges from $0.00184 on FREE to $0.00096 on GOLD, PLATINUM, and DIAMOND tiers.

At the current FREE-tier price, 20 profiles cost about $0.0418 ($0.005 + 20 × $0.00184), while 100 profiles cost about $0.189. Final charges appear in the Apify run record. Failed, duplicate, and rejected source rows are not emitted as supplier profiles.

Profile-detail enrichment has no separate event charge; it is included in the supplier-profile event. Its additional requests can increase runtime platform usage.

Scheduling recurring supplier-list refreshes

Create an Apify schedule to run the same filters daily, weekly, or monthly. Send the resulting dataset to a webhook, Make, Zapier, Google Sheets, a database, or your internal procurement system.

For change monitoring, keep stable keys such as uei, cageCode, or entityDetailId in your destination and compare each new run with your previous snapshot. The Actor exports current source records; it does not itself maintain history or send change alerts.

Exporting and integrating the results

The default dataset supports:

• JSON for application pipelines;
• CSV and Excel for outreach operations;
• XML and RSS for legacy integrations;
• dataset API access for ETL tools;
• Apify webhooks for run-completion automation.

Use uei as the preferred organization key when present. A CAGE code can also be useful, but organizations may expose multiple records or update profile data over time.

Run with the Apify API using cURL

curl -X POST \
  "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/automation-lab~sba-dsbs-small-business-search/runs?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "stateCodes": ["VA"],
    "naicsCodes": ["541511"],
    "certifications": ["8(a)"],
    "maxItems": 100
  }'

To wait for completion and receive dataset items directly, use the synchronous dataset-items endpoint documented in the Apify API.

Run with JavaScript

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN });
const run = await client.actor('automation-lab/sba-dsbs-small-business-search').call({
    searchTerm: 'cybersecurity',
    stateCodes: ['VA'],
    maxItems: 100,
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);

Run with Python

import os
from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient(os.environ['APIFY_TOKEN'])
run = client.actor('automation-lab/sba-dsbs-small-business-search').call(run_input={
    'searchTerm': 'cybersecurity',
    'stateCodes': ['VA'],
    'maxItems': 100,
})
items = client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).list_items().items
print(items)

Use the Actor through MCP

Add this Actor to Claude Code:

claude mcp add --transport http apify \
  "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=automation-lab/sba-dsbs-small-business-search"

Claude Desktop, Cursor, and VS Code setup

Use the following equivalent JSON configuration in Claude Desktop, Cursor, or VS Code clients that support remote MCP servers:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify": {
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=automation-lab/sba-dsbs-small-business-search"
    }
  }
}

Example prompts:

• “Find 50 public Virginia SBA supplier profiles matching cybersecurity.”
• “Export active-SAM HUBZone construction suppliers and summarize their primary NAICS codes.”
• “Build a CSV-ready list of 8(a) custom software contractors with public contact fields.”

Reliability and failure behavior

The Actor uses the official public structured search route rather than browser automation. Search and detail requests have a 45-second timeout. Temporary network errors, HTTP 429, and HTTP 5xx responses receive up to three bounded attempts with backoff. Deterministic client errors are not retried blindly.

If optional detail enrichment fails for one supplier, the Actor keeps that supplier's useful search result and logs a warning. If the main search response is invalid or unavailable after retries, the run fails rather than silently returning misleading data.

Limits and data quality

• A run saves at most 1,000 profiles.
• The official source can return many more candidates than the requested limit; the Actor stops normalizing after reaching maxItems.
• Public fields vary by supplier and may be empty or stale.
• Certification and SAM flags reflect what the SBA source reported at retrieval time.
• Search relevance and source-side filter behavior are controlled by SBA.
• The Actor does not verify emails, phone numbers, certifications, or contract eligibility independently.
• Source changes can temporarily affect availability or field coverage.

Responsible use and legality

The Actor accesses anonymous public supplier-profile data from the official SBA search. Use results in accordance with applicable laws, SBA terms, Apify policies, and your organization's procurement and privacy requirements.

Public availability does not remove your obligations. Keep outreach relevant, identify your organization, honor opt-outs, secure exported contact data, and avoid spam or discriminatory decision-making. Consult qualified counsel for your specific use case.

FAQ and troubleshooting

Why did the Actor reject my input?

At least one supported filter is required. State values must be recognized two-letter postal codes, NAICS values must contain two to six digits, and maxItems must be from 1 to 1,000.

Why did I receive fewer profiles than maxItems?

maxItems is a ceiling, not a guarantee. Your filter combination may have fewer public matches, duplicate records may be removed, or a malformed source row may be rejected.

Why are some contact or capability fields null?

Businesses choose which public fields to maintain. The Actor preserves missing fields as null instead of inventing values. Try includeProfileDetails: true, but the detail endpoint cannot supply data that the source does not publish.

Does the Actor need a proxy or SBA account?

No. The current implementation uses an anonymous official JSON endpoint and does not enable an automatic proxy fallback. If SBA changes access requirements, the Actor will fail clearly rather than requesting private credentials.

Can it monitor changed suppliers?

Use an Apify schedule and compare stable identifiers between run datasets in your own storage. This Actor returns current snapshots; it does not claim a historical change feed.

Related automation-lab Actors

Combine supplier discovery with other public procurement workflows from the automation-lab portfolio when appropriate:

• SAM.gov Contract Awards Scraper for award and vendor research.
• Cal eProcure Solicitations Scraper for California opportunity monitoring.
• USSB Directory Business Listings Scraper for broader U.S. small-business discovery.

Each Actor has its own source coverage and data contract; this Actor remains focused on official SBA Small Business Search profiles.

This Actor is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by the U.S. Small Business Administration.