GovCon Intelligence Engine — SAM.gov Opportunity Scraper

Pulls federal contracting opportunities from the SAM.gov Opportunities API, scores each record 0–100, classifies it by category and urgency, detects changes run-over-run, and surfaces actionable alerts. Designed for government contractors who need a reliable, structured feed of federal opportunities — not raw SAM.gov data dumps.

Pricing: Pay-per-event. See the Apify Store page for current pricing.

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Who This Is For

• Small businesses and government contractors monitoring SAM.gov daily
• Capture teams tracking specific agencies, NAICS codes, or set-aside types
• BD automation pipelines that need structured, scored opportunity data
• Anyone who wants to stop manually searching SAM.gov

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Quick Start

1. Get a free SAM.gov API key at https://sam.gov/profile/details
2. Run the actor with at minimum { "samApiKey": "YOUR_KEY" }
3. Results appear in the default Apify dataset

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Key Features

• Queries the official SAM.gov REST API — no browser scraping, no fragile HTML parsing
• Scores every opportunity 0–100 across multiple dimensions with a transparent scoreBreakdown
• Classifies records by category: bid_opportunity, pre_solicitation, award_notice, market_research, special_notice, justification
• Normalizes set-aside codes, agency names, and place of performance across all records
• Detects changes run-over-run: new, modified, unchanged, and relisted records
• Emits per-record action fields: recommendedAction, alertPriority, alertReason
• Flags data-quality anomalies via dataQualityFlags for diagnostic visibility
• Supports watchlist scoring: configure preferred keywords, NAICS codes, agencies, states, and set-asides for personalized scoring boosts
• Optional webhook (n8n, Zapier, Make) and Slack Block Kit integration

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Scoring Methodology (0–100)

Each opportunity is scored using a multi-component model. The full breakdown is available in scoreBreakdown on every record.

Component	Range	What it measures
noticeTypeScore	0–25	Record category (solicitation, pre-sol, sources sought, etc.)
setAsideScore	0–20	Set-aside type vs. your preferred set-asides
deadlineScore	−20 to +18	Urgency: days until response deadline
valueScore	0–15	Contract value tier
dataQualityScore	0–10	Completeness of key fields
watchlistScore	0–10	Matches to your preferred keywords, NAICS, agencies, and states
penaltyScore	subtracted	Applied for non-actionable categories, expired records, missing required fields

Scores are clamped to 0–100. scoreConfidence (0–100) reflects how complete the underlying data is. scoreVersion identifies the scoring formula version; buildVersion identifies the actor release.

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Classification and Action Fields

Every record includes:

Field	Values	Meaning
recordCategory	bid_opportunity pre_solicitation award_notice market_research special_notice justification other	Notice type classification
deadlineUrgency	today soon upcoming distant expired none	Deadline proximity label (soon = within 7 days)
lifecycleStage	open closing_soon awarded archived unknown	Opportunity lifecycle state
recommendedAction	bid_now review_soon watch research_only ignore	Score- and category-driven action recommendation
alertPriority	high medium low none	Alert urgency level
alertReason	string or null	Human-readable explanation of why this record warrants attention

award_notice and justification records always receive alertPriority: none and alertReason: null. Expired records always receive alertPriority: none.

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Change Detection

When trackChanges: true (default), the actor stores a normalized snapshot of each opportunity in Apify KV store between runs and detects real field changes on subsequent runs.

Each record receives one of four changeType values:

Value	Meaning
new	First time this noticeId has been seen
modified	One or more tracked fields changed since the last run
unchanged	No detectable change since the last run
relisted	Record reappeared after being absent in a prior run

The changedFields array lists exactly which normalized fields changed. Change detection uses normalized values only — raw formatting differences (e.g. set-aside code variants that normalize to the same value) never produce false modified results. firstSeenAt and lastSeenAt are preserved across runs.

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Flagged Reasons

flaggedReasonsV2 is an array of diagnostic strings on each record. Flags are category-aware — non-actionable notice types (award notices, justifications) do not receive flags that are meaningless for them.

Common flags:

Flag	Meaning
new_record	First time this notice has been seen
modified_record	Fields changed since last run
bid_relevant	Category is actively biddable
deadline_today	Response deadline is today
deadline_soon	Deadline within 7 days
expired	Deadline has passed
set_aside_match	Positive set-aside designation present
watchlist_match	Matched a preferred keyword, NAICS, agency, or state
high_value	Estimated value at or above $1M
missing_naics	NAICS code absent
missing_value	No estimated contract value
missing_deadline	No response deadline provided
award_notice	Record is an award notice
likely_removed	Record was absent in recent runs

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Data Quality Flags

dataQualityFlags is a separate diagnostic array that flags raw data anomalies from SAM.gov. These are informational only and do not affect scoring or alerts.

Flag	Meaning
empty_set_aside_string	Set-aside field was an empty string in the source
empty_response_deadline_string	Deadline field was an empty string in the source
deadline_before_posted_date	Response deadline is earlier than the posted date
missing_naics	NAICS code absent
foreign_state_code_format	Non-US place of performance with ISO 3166-2 region code in the state field

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Output Modes

Mode	What is included
full	All records with all fields (default)
bid_feed	Solicitations, pre-solicitations, and sources sought only
awards_feed	Award notices and justifications only
alerts	New or modified records, records with urgent deadlines, and records with bid_now or review_soon action — award notices and justifications excluded
etl_flat	All records with nested objects flattened to underscore-delimited keys for data pipeline compatibility

Each run also appends a summary record with runType: "summary" containing aggregate stats: total records, new/modified counts, top agencies, top NAICS codes, bid-relevant count, and top 5 opportunities by score.

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Input Parameters

Core Filters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
samApiKey	string	required	SAM.gov public API key
keywords	string[]	[]	Keywords to filter opportunities (matched against title in SAM.gov query)
naicsCode	string	—	Single NAICS code filter
agency	string	—	Agency name partial match
noticeType	string[]	[]	Notice type codes: o Solicitation, p Presolicitation, k Combined, r Sources Sought, s Special Notice, a Award, u Justification, g Surplus Sale, i Bundle Intent
setAside	string[]	[]	Set-aside codes to filter on: SBA, 8A, 8AN, HZC, HZS, SDVOSBC, SDVOSBS, WOSB, WOSBSS, EDWOSB, EDWOSBSS, VSB, VOSB
activeOnly	boolean	true	Only return currently active opportunities
postedFrom / postedTo	string	—	Posted date range (ISO 8601 or MM/DD/YYYY)
deadlineFrom / deadlineTo	string	—	Response deadline date range
minContractValue / maxContractValue	integer	—	Contract value filter in USD
maxResults	integer	100	Maximum opportunities to fetch and process (1–10,000)

Behavior

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
trackChanges	boolean	true	Enable KV-store change detection across runs
outputMode	string	full	full · bid_feed · awards_feed · alerts · etl_flat
minScore	integer	0	Exclude records below this opportunity score
onlyFlagged	boolean	false	Only output records with at least one flag

Watchlist / Scoring Preferences

These fields boost scoring and populate watchlistMatch and watchlistMatches on matched records.

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
preferredKeywords	string[]	[]	Keywords matched against record titles for scoring bonus
preferredNaicsCodes	string[]	[]	NAICS codes that receive a scoring bonus when matched
preferredAgencies	string[]	[]	Agency names (partial match) that receive a scoring bonus
preferredStates	string[]	[]	State codes (e.g. VA, TX) matched against place of performance
preferredSetAsides	string[]	[]	Set-aside types (SBA, SDVOSB, WOSB, HUBZONE, 8A, VOSB, OTHER) that receive maximum set-aside score

Integrations

Parameter	Type	Description
webhookUrl	string	POST all output records as JSON to this URL at end of run (n8n, Zapier, Make, or custom endpoint)
slackWebhookUrl	string	Send a Slack Block Kit summary with run stats and top 5 opportunities by score

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Output Fields (per record)

Core Notice Fields

noticeId · title · solicitationNumber · agency · agencyCode · noticeType · noticeTypeCode · naicsCode · naicsCodes · classificationCode · setAside · setAsideLabel · postedDate · responseDeadLine · archiveDate · active · estimatedValue · awardDate · awardNumber · awardee · placeOfPerformance · pointOfContact · descriptionUrl · opportunityUrl · scrapedAt

Normalized Fields

normalizedSetAside · normalizedAgency · normalizedPlaceOfPerformance (object: city, state, country, raw)

Classification and Deadline

recordCategory · bidRelevance · daysUntilDeadline · deadlineUrgency · isExpired · isAward · isActiveOpportunity · lifecycleStage · dataCompletenessScore

Scoring

opportunityScoreV2 · opportunityScore (alias) · scoreBreakdown · scoreConfidence · scoreVersion · buildVersion

Change Detection

changeType · changedFields · firstSeenAt · lastSeenAt · isNewRecord · isModifiedRecord · isLikelyRemoved · previousNoticeType · previousResponseDeadline · previousEstimatedValue

Watchlist

watchlistMatch · watchlistMatches

Flags and Reasons

flaggedReasonsV2 · flaggedReasons (alias) · dataQualityFlags · matchReasons · disqualifyingReasons

Action and Alerts

recommendedAction · alertPriority · alertReason

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Example Inputs

SDVOSB IT opportunities at DoD

{
  "samApiKey": "YOUR_KEY",
  "keywords": ["cybersecurity", "zero trust", "SIEM"],
  "naicsCode": "541512",
  "agency": "DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE",
  "setAside": ["SDVOSBC"],
  "activeOnly": true,
  "maxResults": 200,
  "minScore": 40,
  "outputMode": "alerts",
  "preferredKeywords": ["cybersecurity", "zero trust"],
  "preferredSetAsides": ["SDVOSB"]
}

Daily new-opportunity monitor for a specific NAICS

{
  "samApiKey": "YOUR_KEY",
  "noticeType": ["o", "k", "r"],
  "activeOnly": true,
  "trackChanges": true,
  "outputMode": "alerts",
  "preferredNaicsCodes": ["541511", "541512"],
  "preferredAgencies": ["GSA", "Department of Veterans Affairs"],
  "preferredStates": ["VA", "MD", "DC"],
  "webhookUrl": "https://your-n8n.cloud/webhook/govcon"
}

Awards intelligence feed

{
  "samApiKey": "YOUR_KEY",
  "noticeType": ["a"],
  "activeOnly": false,
  "outputMode": "awards_feed",
  "maxResults": 500,
  "trackChanges": false
}

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Limitations and Notes

• SAM.gov API rate limits apply. The free public API key is subject to daily and per-minute quotas. The actor handles 429 rate limit responses with exponential backoff but cannot exceed what SAM.gov permits.
• Date range required. The SAM.gov API requires a posting date range. If none is provided, the actor defaults to the last 30 days.
• Estimated value availability. Estimated contract value is not present on all opportunity types. It is most reliably populated on award notices.
• Change detection requires consistent runs. The KV store used for change detection is scoped to the Apify actor run environment. If you clear storage or run in a new environment, all records will appear as new on the first run.
• This actor queries the SAM.gov Opportunities API. It does not scrape the SAM.gov website and does not access documents, attachments, or full opportunity descriptions.