How to find federal contract opportunities that fit your business
Where contract notices are published, how NAICS and PSC codes narrow them, and how our matches explain each one.
The Firmenza team · ·
Where are federal contract opportunities published?
Federal agencies publish their contract opportunities on SAM.gov, as notices you can search and read there. Each notice carries its own details: the agency, a title and a description, a response date, a place of performance, and, where the notice states them, a NAICS code, a PSC code and a set-aside.
Finding a notice and pursuing it are different steps. To bid or be paid as the prime on a federal contract, a business needs a SAM.gov registration with the purpose that covers contracts, All Awards. Reading the solicitation, deciding whether to bid and responding by the date it states are the business's own work.
How do NAICS and PSC codes narrow the search?
NAICS codes describe the kind of work a business does. They come from the U.S. Census Bureau's North American Industry Classification System, and each six-digit code names an industry. PSC codes come from GSA's Product and Service Codes Manual, and each one names a product or a service the government buys.
SAM.gov asks for a primary NAICS code when you register, and you can list more codes for the other work you would bid on. Choose the codes that describe what you sell. Firmenza's free code finder searches both lists by word or by number, and an APEX Accelerator can help you decide.
What is a set-aside, and who decides whether it fits you?
A set-aside is an opportunity limited to businesses that meet a rule the agency states. Size status is how a business is counted as small or not for a given kind of work, and affiliation is whether another business has to be counted with yours when that size is worked out.
Firmenza shows a set-aside as the notice publishes it. Whether your business may compete under one is a question for SBA's rules, not for Firmenza, and your own facts decide it. A free counselor or an attorney is who reads those facts. The card just below this post names three places to ask.
How do Firmenza's matches work?
You save a profile: your NAICS and PSC codes, a few keywords, and the states you work in, or anywhere in the US. Firmenza checks SAM.gov's public list of contract opportunities about once a day and compares each new notice with your profile. Keywords are matched in a notice's title and description, and your states are compared with its place of performance.
Each match says why it matched, in a table: what was compared, what the notice says, what your profile says, and Firmenza's comparison. The matches run on fixed rules and contain no AI-generated text. They also come to you in a digest email, and saving or dismissing one changes nothing on sam.gov.
The list Firmenza reads is not a complete search, so check each notice on sam.gov before relying on it. These are tools to help you find and pursue contracts. The decision to bid is always yours.
What about grants?
A grant is federal financial assistance, a different kind of award, and the registration purpose for grants and loans is Financial Assistance. Federal grant opportunities are published on Grants.gov, which exports its list of grants once a day.
Firmenza can list Grants.gov opportunities that match your keywords too, each labeled as a grant and linked to its Grants.gov page. Grants.gov lists who may apply to each grant, and the agency decides who is eligible. Which purpose fits contracts, grants or both is the subject of the guide on contracts or grants.
Sources
The guides this post builds on
Check your own record
The free health check reads the public SAM.gov record and tells you what it says — status, expiration date, and what is worth a second look.