How do I find government contracts?

Government contracts are required by federal and state law to be publicly posted before award. The work of "finding" them is really a matter of monitoring the right sources. There are three layers.

At the federal level, SAM.gov is the consolidated portal — every federal opportunity above the simplified acquisition threshold (currently $250,000) appears there. SAM.gov is free, but you must register as a vendor (which assigns you a Unique Entity Identifier, or UEI) before you can submit a bid. Grants.gov is the parallel system for federal financial assistance.

At the state level, each state runs its own procurement portal — California has Cal eProcure, Texas has the Electronic State Business Daily, Pennsylvania has eMarketplace, and so on. Each one has its own login and notification system. Monitoring all fifty individually is impractical, which is why aggregators exist.

At the local level (counties, cities, school districts, hospitals, universities, special districts), each agency typically uses a procurement platform like Bonfire, PlanetBids, Jaggaer, or BidNet Direct. These are the most fragmented because there are thousands of issuing agencies.

ProcureTap aggregates all three layers — federal, state, and local — into a single searchable feed updated every six hours. The free tier lets you view 5 bid details per week; the Pro plan is unlimited.