SBA Small Business Search Scraper

Search the U.S. Small Business Administration's public Small Business Search directory — the official federal tool used by contracting officers and buyers to find small businesses. Search by business name, keyword, UEI, or CAGE code; browse by US state, NAICS industry code, or federal certification (8(a), HUBZone, WOSB, EDWOSB, VOSB, SDVOSB). No login, no cookies, no proxy required — this is a fully public government dataset.

What this actor does

• Four modes: search, byState, byNaicsCode, byCertification
• All 50 US states + DC + 8 territories available as location filters
• Metro area (MSA), county, and congressional district filters for precise geographic targeting
• All 6 SBA federal certification programs available as filters
• 11 self-certified business types (minority-owned, tribally-owned, ANC/NHO-owned, etc.) as a filter
• 5 quality assurance standards (ANSI, ISO 9000, ISO 10012, MIL-Q, MIL-STD) as a filter
• Bonding-level minimums (construction/service, individual/aggregate) to find businesses that can bond above a dollar threshold
• Exact keyword-tag filter, distinct from free-text search, plus a "profile last updated" recency filter
• 24 top-level NAICS industry sectors as a curated filter, plus free-text exact NAICS code input
• Returns contact info, address, NAICS codes, capabilities narrative, self-reported business classifications (minority/woman/veteran-owned, etc.), and active federal certifications
• Respects each business's own contact-visibility settings — only returns phone/email/fax/address when the business opted to display it publicly
• Empty fields are omitted — every record only contains data that was actually found

Output per business

• entityId, legalBusinessName, dbaName, uei, cageCode
• primaryNaicsCode, naicsCodes[], keywords[]
• capabilitiesNarrative, capabilitiesLink, principals, contactPerson
• phone, fax, email, website, additionalWebsite
• streetAddress, city, state, zipCode, county, congressionalDistrict, msa
• yearEstablished, businessSizeEmployees, annualRevenueUsd
• isExporter, exportBusinessActivities, exportToCountries, desiredExportRelationships, exportObjective
• activeFederalCertifications[] — e.g. ["8(a)", "HUBZone"]
• selfCertifications[] — e.g. ["Woman-Owned Small Business", "Veteran-Owned", "Hispanic American Owned"]
• nonFederalCertifications — free-text non-federal/professional certifications self-reported by the business, e.g. "WBENC; PSWMSDC - MBE"
• qualityStandards[], bondingLevelsUsd, isActiveSam, lastUpdatedAt
• sourceUrl, recordType: "smallBusiness", scrapedAt

Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
mode	string	search	search / byState / byNaicsCode / byCertification
searchTerm	string	bakery	Business name, UEI, CAGE code, or keyword
states	array	–	US states/territories to restrict to (mode=byState)
zipCodes	array	–	5-digit ZIP codes to restrict to
naicsSector	string	–	Top-level NAICS industry sector (mode=byNaicsCode)
naicsCodes	array	–	Exact 2-6 digit NAICS codes (mode=byNaicsCode)
naicsPrimaryOnly	bool	false	Match only businesses whose primary NAICS is in the list
certifications	array	–	SBA certification programs to restrict to (mode=byCertification)
includePreviousCertifications	bool	false	Include lapsed/suspended certifications
activeSamOnly	bool	false	Only businesses with an active SAM.gov registration
msaCodes	array	–	5-digit metro area (MSA/CBSA) codes, e.g. 12420
countyFips	array	–	5-digit US county FIPS codes, e.g. 48453
congressionalDistricts	array	–	US congressional districts, e.g. TX-21, Wyoming-00
selfCertifications	array	–	Self-attested SAM.gov business types (not SBA-verified)
qualityStandards	array	–	Quality assurance certifications (ANSI, ISO 9000, ISO 10012, MIL-Q, MIL-STD)
minConstructionBondingIndividual / minConstructionBondingAggregate / minServiceBondingIndividual / minServiceBondingAggregate	int	–	Minimum bonding-capacity thresholds (USD)
keywords	array	–	Exact keyword/capability tags to match (OR'd, distinct from searchTerm)
lastUpdated	string	anytime	Only businesses updated within past-3-months / past-6-months / past-year
stateFilter / naicsPrefixFilter / minYearEstablished / certificationFilter / requireWebsite	–	–	Extra client-side post-filters
maxItems	int	25	Hard cap on emitted records (1-500)

Location filters (states, zipCodes, msaCodes, countyFips, congressionalDistricts) are combined with OR logic — a business matching any of them is included.

Example: HUBZone-certified construction firms in Texas

{
  "mode": "byCertification",
  "certifications": ["HUBZONE"],
  "states": ["TX"],
  "searchTerm": "construction",
  "maxItems": 50
}

Example: browse a NAICS industry sector

{
  "mode": "byNaicsCode",
  "searchTerm": "restaurant",
  "naicsSector": "72",
  "states": ["CA"],
  "maxItems": 100
}

naicsSector is a convenience refinement filter (applied client-side against each business's actual NAICS codes) rather than a precise server-side search axis — the SBA API only supports exact-code matching, not sector-level prefixes. For best results, pair it with searchTerm, naicsCodes (exact codes), states, or certifications so the initial search is already reasonably narrow.

Example: woman-owned businesses with a website

{
  "mode": "byCertification",
  "certifications": ["WOSB", "EDWOSB"],
  "requireWebsite": true,
  "maxItems": 50
}

Example: bondable construction firms in a specific metro area

{
  "mode": "search",
  "searchTerm": "construction",
  "msaCodes": ["12420"],
  "minConstructionBondingIndividual": 50000,
  "qualityStandards": ["ANSI"],
  "maxItems": 50
}

Example: recently-updated minority-owned businesses in a county

{
  "mode": "search",
  "searchTerm": "consulting",
  "countyFips": ["48453"],
  "selfCertifications": ["SELF_SDB"],
  "lastUpdated": "past-6-months",
  "maxItems": 50
}

Use cases

• Federal contracting — find certified small-business subcontractors/vendors for a solicitation
• Supplier diversity programs — source minority-, woman-, or veteran-owned suppliers by industry and location
• Sales prospecting — build a targeted list of small businesses in a specific NAICS sector and state
• Market research — analyze the density of certified small businesses by industry/region
• Partnership sourcing — find potential joint-venture partners holding a specific SBA certification

FAQ

What is SBA Small Business Search? The official U.S. Small Business Administration tool (search.certifications.sba.gov) that federal agencies and prime contractors use to find small businesses — especially those with SBA certifications — for contracting opportunities.

What are the SBA certifications? Federal socio-economic contracting programs: 8(a) (disadvantaged business), HUBZone (historically underutilized business zone), WOSB/EDWOSB (woman-owned / economically disadvantaged woman-owned), and VOSB/SDVOSB (veteran-owned / service-disabled veteran-owned).

What's the difference between activeFederalCertifications and selfCertifications? activeFederalCertifications are SBA-verified certifications requiring a formal application. selfCertifications are self-reported classifications (e.g. "Minority-Owned Business", "Hispanic American Owned") that aren't independently verified by SBA.

Why do some businesses have no phone/email/address? Each business controls whether its contact details are shown publicly. The actor only returns fields the business itself opted to display.

What are UEI and CAGE code? A UEI (Unique Entity Identifier) and CAGE code (Commercial and Government Entity code) are federal identifiers assigned when a business registers in SAM.gov — both are searchable via searchTerm.

How current is this data? SBA updates records continuously as businesses register, renew certifications, or update their profiles; lastUpdatedAt reflects the business's own last profile update.

What's the difference between keywords and searchTerm? searchTerm is a broad free-text match across the business name, capabilities narrative, and tags. keywords is an exact (case-insensitive) match against a business's structured keyword/capability tags only, and multiple keywords are OR-matched — useful for precise tag-based filtering rather than broad text search.

What are self-certifications vs. quality assurance standards? Self-certifications are ownership-trait attestations businesses make in SAM.gov (e.g. "Native American Owned") — not independently verified by SBA. Quality assurance standards (ANSI, ISO 9000, ISO 10012, MIL-Q, MIL-STD) are quality-management certifications a business reports holding.

How do I find an MSA code, county FIPS code, or congressional district? MSA (metro area) codes and county FIPS codes are standard 5-digit US Census Bureau identifiers — look them up on Census.gov, or via the SBA's own Advanced Search "Metropolitan statistical area" / "Congressional district and county code list" reference tools. Congressional districts use the format State-## (e.g. Texas-21); at-large single-district states use -00 and DC/Puerto Rico/Guam/US Virgin Islands/American Samoa/Northern Mariana Islands use -98.

Can I filter by employee count or annual revenue? No — while the upstream search tool's data model includes these fields, they are not enforced as filters server-side (confirmed by testing) and the live search UI has no controls for them either, so this actor does not expose them to avoid a filter that silently does nothing.