US Government Contracts Search

Find US government contracts that match your business — in seconds. Search federal + state + local procurement data from 5 official databases with a single keyword. No SAM.gov login, no GovWin IQ subscription, no tab-hopping.

The US federal government spent $773.68B on contracts in FY24, and 91.5% of solicitations got only 1-3 bidders. Most small businesses never even find the opportunities in their niche. This Actor shows you what's there.

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Who is this for?

• 🏭 Small business owners exploring government as a new sales channel
• 💼 Business development & sales tracking federal spending in your industry
• 🔍 Competitive intelligence watching who wins contracts in your space
• 📰 Journalists & researchers investigating government spending patterns
• 🌏 Non-US suppliers from TAA-designated countries (Canada, UK, Japan, EU, etc.) exploring US federal market
• 🤖 AI agents & automation builders feeding contract data into workflows

If you're wondering "are there government contracts for my type of business?" — start here.

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What you can do with it

1. Find matching contracts for your small business

In plain English: search by keyword → get a list of active opportunities + past awards your business could win. Focus on the $15K-$350K sweet spot where small shops actually compete.

You give:

Field	What to enter
Search terms	Keywords like "uniform", "coat, all weather", "IT services"
Sources	Federal, state/local, or both

You get back (table, exportable as Excel / CSV / JSON):

Title	Agency	Amount	Deadline	Source
Coat, All Weather (OCP)	DLA Troop Support	$180,000	2026-05-15	SAM.gov
Uniform Services, Quarterly	Department of Defense	$45,000	2026-05-22	SAM.gov
...	...	...	...	...

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2. Track competitor contract wins (sales intelligence)

In plain English: enter a competitor's name → get their 2-year federal contract history. Find contracts ending in 6-18 months (the recompete window — challenger win rate 38% vs 12% net-new).

You give:

Field	What to enter
Search terms	Competitor legal entity name(s)
Sources	Federal awards (USAspending.gov)

You get back (sortable by contract end date):

Competitor	Agency	Amount	Start Date	End Date	NAICS
Competitor A	Department of Defense	$2.1M	2024-07-01	2026-06-30	541512
Competitor A	DHS	$450K	2025-01-15	2027-01-14	541611
...	...	...	...	...	...

Filter the End Date column for the next 6-18 months → that's your recompete target list.

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3. Monitor new RFPs on a schedule (inbound pipeline)

In plain English: set up a daily or weekly run with your NAICS / keywords → get fresh solicitations in your inbox before competitors notice.

Use for:

• Small business set-asides in your NAICS code
• Sources Sought notices (pre-RFP signal — highest intent buyer)
• Specific agency contracts (DoD, GSA, VA, DHS)
• Contract amendments and recompete pre-solicitations

Connect to Make / n8n / Zapier to auto-post new results to Slack, email, or your CRM.

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4. Research state & local government spending

In plain English: federal data isn't the whole picture. This Actor also pulls from Bonfire (500+ state/local agencies), OpenGov (state/county), and PlanetBids (1,000+ public agencies).

Useful for:

• Municipal contracts (cities, counties, school districts)
• State university procurement
• Public utility RFPs
• Transit agency bids

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5. Cross-border: non-US suppliers testing US market

In plain English: if your company is based in a TAA-designated country (Canada, UK, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Australia, EU, Israel, Mexico, etc.), US federal contracts above $183K are legally open to you — most non-US founders don't know this.

Filter for full-and-open competition solicitations (no small-business set-aside), look for FAR 52.225-5 in the clauses, and check place of performance requirements.

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How to use (no code required)

1. Click "Try for Free" at the top of this page
2. Enter your search terms (e.g. "cybersecurity", "uniform", "IT services")
3. (Optional) Toggle which sources to search (federal only, state/local only, or both)
4. (Optional) Set max results per source (default 50, up to 200)
5. Click Start — results appear in seconds

Download as Excel, CSV, or JSON. Or connect to Google Sheets via Make/Zapier for live pipelines.

The free $5 monthly Apify credit gets you around 300+ searches.

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What you get back

Each result includes:

• Title — contract or solicitation title
• Agency — contracting agency name
• Award amount — dollar value (for awards)
• Awardee — winning contractor (for awards)
• Posted date — when the opportunity/award was published
• Response deadline — submission deadline (for opportunities)
• Description — full contract description
• Source URL — link to the original listing
• Source — which database it came from (SAM.gov / USAspending / Bonfire / OpenGov / PlanetBids)

All fields are normalized across sources — same column names whether it came from federal or state/local.

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Data sources

This Actor queries 5 official procurement databases in parallel:

Source	Coverage	Data type
USAspending.gov	All federal awards since 2008	Contract awards, grants, loans
SAM.gov	Active federal opportunities	Solicitations, RFPs, RFIs
Bonfire	500+ state & local agencies	Municipal procurement
OpenGov	State & county procurement	Government RFPs
PlanetBids	1,000+ public agencies	Bids and proposals

All sources are official government open data — no login required, no scraping of protected pages.

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Pricing

Pay only for what you search. No subscription, no minimums.

Scenario	Cost
Single search, 1 source	~$0.003 per run
Single search, all 5 sources	~$0.015 per run
100 searches (all sources)	~$1.50
Daily monitor, 5 keywords, 1 year	~$27

How this compares:

• GovWin IQ: $15,000 – $42,000 per year
• Bloomberg Government: from $5,700 per year
• HigherGov: $500 – $5,000 per year
• This Actor: pay-per-search, no subscription

The $5 free monthly Apify credit covers around 300+ searches — enough to set up ongoing monitoring for a small shop before you spend anything.

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Connect to your tools

Use this Actor from your existing stack — no coding needed:

Platform	How to connect
Make.com	Search "Apify" → "Run Actor" → Actor ID: lentic_clockss/us-government-contracts-search
n8n	Add Apify node → "Run Actor" action → same Actor ID
Zapier	Apify integration → "Run Actor" trigger
LangChain	ApifyActorsTool("lentic_clockss/us-government-contracts-search")
MCP (AI agents)	Auto-discoverable via https://mcp.apify.com

Example: Claude / GPT / Cursor (MCP)

Add to your MCP config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify": {
      "url": "https://mcp.apify.com",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN"
      }
    }
  }
}

Then ask: "Search US government contracts for cybersecurity services in the last 12 months"

Example: Python direct call

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("lentic_clockss/us-government-contracts-search").call(
    run_input={
        "searchTerms": ["IT services"],
        "includeContracts": True,
        "includeOpportunities": True,
        "maxResultsPerSource": 50
    }
)
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

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When to use something else

This Actor is great for discovering contract opportunities and researching award history. It's NOT the right tool for:

If you need...	Use this instead
Proposal writing / bid management	A GovCon consultant or SaaS like Unanet / Deltek
Real-time pre-solicitation alpha	Sometimes paid tools get leaks 1-2 days earlier
Past performance / CPARS ratings	CPARS.gov (direct access, not in this dataset)
Contractor capability check	SAM.gov directly for detailed Reps & Certs

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FAQ

Q: Does this work for state/local contracts too? A: Yes — the Actor queries Bonfire, OpenGov, and PlanetBids alongside federal sources. Toggle includeStateLocal to include/exclude.

Q: How fresh is the data? A: SAM.gov opportunities: real-time. USAspending.gov awards: updated within 24-48 hours of contract modification. State/local: varies by platform (typically 1-4 hours).

Q: Do I need a SAM.gov account? A: No. This Actor uses public SAM.gov and USAspending.gov APIs. You only need a SAM registration if you want to actually bid on a contract.

Q: Can I search by NAICS code? A: Use NAICS as your search term, e.g. "NAICS 541512" or combine with keywords: "cybersecurity 541512". The SAM.gov source indexes NAICS as a searchable field.

Q: What's the sweet spot for small businesses? A: $15K-$350K. As of October 2025, the Simplified Acquisition Threshold is $350K (past-performance rules are relaxed below this), and the Micro-Purchase Threshold is $15K (no competition required). Big primes usually ignore this band.

Q: Can non-US companies bid on US federal contracts? A: Yes, if your country is TAA-designated (FAR 25.4). This includes Canada, UK, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Australia, all 27 EU states, Israel, Mexico, and about 60 others. Contracts above $183K are legally open.

Q: How do I find set-asides? A: Search terms like "small business set-aside", "WOSB", "HUBZone", "SDVOSB", or "8(a)" will surface set-aside opportunities on SAM.gov.

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Input reference

For developers who want full control:

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
searchTerms	array	required	Search keywords (e.g. ["cybersecurity", "IT services"])
includeContracts	boolean	true	Include USAspending.gov federal awards
includeOpportunities	boolean	true	Include SAM.gov federal opportunities
includeStateLocal	boolean	true	Include Bonfire, OpenGov, and PlanetBids
maxResultsPerSource	integer	50	Max results per source (up to 200)

Full output schema is available in the Dataset tab.

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Performance

Scenario	Sources	Speed
Single source	1	~1-3 seconds
All sources	5	~3-5 seconds (parallel)

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