# Government Contract Signals — Federal Award Winners as Leads (`opensignals/gov-contract-signals`) Actor

Companies that just won federal contracts have confirmed budgets. Official USASpending.gov API (no key, no scraping): fresh awards with amounts, agencies, industries, first-time-vendor detection, hiring cross-check over 7 ATS, 0-100 lead score. Watch mode, CSV-ready output.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/opensignals/gov-contract-signals.md
- **Developed by:** [Andrey](https://apify.com/opensignals) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Automation, News
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per event

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Government Contract Signals — Federal Award Winners as B2B Leads

*Government contract scraper & federal award lead finder — USASpending.gov contract winners as B2B leads with agencies, NAICS and first-time vendors.*

**A company that just won a federal contract has a confirmed budget.** It will staff up, buy tooling, rent space and subcontract in the following months — on government money. This Actor reads the **official USASpending.gov API** (no key, no scraping, no anti-bot walls) and turns fresh federal awards into scored, outreach-ready lead records.

### Why this beats SAM.gov scrapers

| | This Actor | SAM.gov scrapers |
|---|---|---|
| Source | Official open-data API | Scraped HTML / gated API keys |
| Coverage | All federal awards (contracts + grants) | Mostly solicitations |
| Signal | Money **already won** = budget confirmed | Bids in progress = maybe |
| Reliability | Government JSON API | Breaks with site changes |

### What you get

Each `contract_signal` record:

- **`recipient`** — winning company (legal suffixes cleaned for outreach)
- **`amount`**, **`agency`** / `sub_agency`, **`naics_description`** (industry), `place_state`, `description`, `award_url` (official USASpending page)
- **`first_time_vendor`** 🔥 — this vendor has never appeared in your previous runs: a company entering the federal market is building capacity *right now* (new hires, new systems, new suppliers)
- **`contract_score` 0–100** — freshness + amount + first-time vendor + kind
- **`hiring_check`** + **`composite_intent_score`** 🔥 — probes 7 ATS job boards: fresh federal money AND hiring = the hottest lead
- **`alert_text`** — ready-to-send Slack/Telegram line

Every run ends with a `market_summary`: totals, medians, top agencies/states/industries, first-time-vendor count.

### Who buys this data

- **B2B sales:** filter by NAICS/keywords (`software`, `cybersecurity`) → companies with fresh government revenue in your ICP
- **Subcontractors & staffing:** prime contractors who just won need subs and people — reach them the week the award lands
- **Commercial real estate, insurance, equipment leasing:** new award = expansion
- **Grant consultants:** `awardKinds: ["grants"]` → freshly funded organizations

### Typical setup

`daysBack: 7` + `minAmount: 500000` + your NAICS/keywords, schedule weekly, `outputMode: flat_leads` → CSV-ready winner list into Google Sheets. Enable `onlyNewAwards` for a daily fresh-winners alert feed (state kept in your account; you pay only for new results).

### FAQ

**Is this legal?** Yes — USASpending.gov is the U.S. government's official open-data portal, explicitly published for public use.

**Why does `first_time_vendor` need a few runs?** It compares against vendors seen in *your* previous runs — from the second run on it flags genuine newcomers.

**Something broken?** Open an issue on the Actor's Issues tab — I respond within 1–2 business days.

***

*Part of the opensignals intent suite: [ATS Hiring Signals](https://apify.com/opensignals/ats-hiring-signals) · [Job Board Monitor](https://apify.com/opensignals/job-board-monitor) · [Startup Funding Signals](https://apify.com/opensignals/startup-funding-signals). Companies confirmed by two independent signals (money + hiring) close fastest.*

# Actor input Schema

## `daysBack` (type: `integer`):

How many days of award actions to pull (max 90). Fresh awards are the strongest signal.

## `minAmount` (type: `integer`):

Skip awards below this amount.

## `keywords` (type: `array`):

Full-text keywords over award descriptions (USASpending search), e.g. `software`, `cybersecurity`, `construction`.

## `agencyFilter` (type: `array`):

Only awards from agencies whose name contains any of these, e.g. `Defense`, `Energy`, `Health`.

## `stateFilter` (type: `array`):

Two-letter state codes, e.g. `CA`, `TX`, `VA`.

## `naicsFilter` (type: `array`):

NAICS code prefixes or industry-name substrings, e.g. `5415` (computer services) or `engineering`.

## `awardKinds` (type: `array`):

Contracts (companies selling to the government) and/or grants (funded organizations).

## `onlyNewAwards` (type: `boolean`):

Remember previously seen awards and output only NEW ones. Schedule daily for a fresh-winners alert feed.

## `checkHiring` (type: `boolean`):

Probe 7 ATS job boards for top winners: fresh federal money AND hiring = the hottest lead. Adds `hiring_check` and `composite_intent_score`.

## `checkHiringTop` (type: `integer`):

How many top-scored winners to probe for live job boards.

## `maxAwards` (type: `integer`):

Cap on awards fetched per run.

## `outputMode` (type: `string`):

`signals` = full records. `flat_leads` = one flat row per award, ready for CSV/Sheets/CRM import.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "daysBack": 7,
  "minAmount": 100000,
  "keywords": [],
  "agencyFilter": [],
  "stateFilter": [],
  "naicsFilter": [],
  "awardKinds": [
    "contracts"
  ],
  "onlyNewAwards": false,
  "checkHiring": true,
  "checkHiringTop": 50,
  "maxAwards": 300,
  "outputMode": "signals"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `winners` (type: `string`):

Companies that just won federal money, sorted by composite intent score

## `allResults` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("opensignals/gov-contract-signals").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("opensignals/gov-contract-signals").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{}' |
apify call opensignals/gov-contract-signals --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,opensignals/gov-contract-signals"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/1XhieUCeeqS3sve4G/builds/HTQUWEaONgdDJ4uUW/openapi.json