Government contracting guides
Everything we know about winning federal work, written plainly and free to read. Every guide carries live numbers from the 10,677 solicitations open right now, rather than a paraphrase of the agency's own page.
Start here
If you have never held a federal contract, in this order.
- What are government contracts?The four types, and how federal buying differs
- How to get government contractsThe order that works, and what wastes a year
- SAM.gov registrationFree, a few weeks, and the annual renewal that catches people
- The easiest contracts to winSize decides this, not industry
- Simplified acquisition thresholdWhere a first win realistically happens
Free tools
No account, no sign-in, built on the federal registration extract.
- CAGE code lookupBy company name or by code, 722,270 registrations
- UEI number lookupThe identifier that replaced DUNS
- NAICS code lookupSay what you do, get the code and what is open under it
- NAICS lookup by companyWhat a company is actually registered under
- How NAICS codes workThe six digits, and why they decide your size
- Can I bid yet?Five questions and what is missing
- Free bid checkPaste a solicitation and get it read for you
Certifications and set-asides
Which apply to you, what they cost, and how much work sits behind each.
- Set-aside contractsThe rule of two, and live counts by programme
- SBA certificationWhich exist, and the MySBA portal that replaced the old ones
- 8(a) certificationNine years, once, with sole source authority
- HUBZone certificationGeographic, and the 35% rule people fail on
- WOSB certificationOnly operates in designated industry codes
- SDVOSB certificationMoved to the SBA in 2023
- What counts as a small businessDifferent answer for every industry code
Bidding and proposals
What the documents are and what actually gets you eliminated.
- What is an RFP?Read Section M first, then L, then C
- RFP vs RFQ vs RFI vs IFBWhether you can win on anything but price
- RFP response templateAnd the compliance matrix that matters more
- Bid proposal templateCommercial and federal are not the same job
- Capability statementOne page, and why most of them get binned
- Sources sought noticesThe stage that decides the contract
- CPARS and past performanceSatisfactory is a losing score
Finding the work
Where it is published, and what is worth paying for.
- Open solicitationsBrowse what is open right now
- Where to find contracts for bidFederal, state and local, and what is free
- State and local contractsBigger than federal, and far less competed
- Contract software comparedThree categories, and when paying is justified
- GSA Schedule, Advantage and eBuyA licence to sell, not a pipeline
- Federal subcontractingHow most firms actually start
- The largest contractorsAnd how to use that list
- Grants vs contractsWhy the grants you are searching for do not exist