The Federal Government provides numerous business opportunities, listed on its SAM.GOV website and other free-to-use data sites such as FPDS.gov, eSRS.gov, and FSRS.gov. These Federal Contracts can be easily accessed and downloaded in a large CSV file which can be imported into Excel. No login is required to access this data, but creating a free login can provide additional search and save functions. The Contract Opportunities Data Dictionary PDF can aid in understanding the different columns in the data. The Federal Service Desk (FSD.gov) offers assistance with decoding codes and values in the data. The “TYPE” column in the opportunity spreadsheet indicates the notice type for the opportunity, helping businesses identify relevant Federal Contracts.
Government Opportunities for Businesses
The Federal government publishes opportunities for businesses on its SAM.GOV web site. This site and other data sites SAM.gov, FPDS.gov, eSRS.gov, and FSRS.gov are free to use.
Downloading Opportunities
A very large CSV ( almost 800,000 rows!) which can be easily imported into Excel is available to download at: SAM.GOV > Data Services > Contract Opportunities > datagov > ContractOpportunitiesFullCSV.CSV
Common Questions and Answers
Q: Do I need a login to access Federal Opportunities?
A: No. The data is available on SAM.GOV for free simply by clicking a link and downloading an Excel spreadsheet.
If you do choose to create a free login (there is no need to associate an entity when doing so) , you gain addition abilities for searching and saving searches and more .
Q: What are all these columns?
A: the Contract Opportunities Data Dictionary PDF explains what each column represents
Q: I don’t understand all these codes and values being used in the data
A: The Federal Service Desk ( FSD.gov) is a generic help website for Federal data for all four main Federal Government data web site. There is a search box for looking for specific terms and a section related to Opportunities
Q: The opportunity spreadsheet has a lot of data; how do I know which rows I want to look at?
A: There is a column labeled “TYPE” which is the notice type for the opportunity. Ones currently are open are type “Solicititaton”. There are a number of other types which are “Pre-Award” which indicate notices such as business fairs, Presolicitiation which tell you which things may be coming up and more. You can search FSD.GOV for Notice Types For Contract Opportunities and see the help article for the complete list.
Question & Answer
Q: Do I need a login to access Federal Opportunities?
A: No. The data is available on SAM.GOV for free simply by clicking a link and downloading an Excel spreadsheet. If you do choose to create a free login (there is no need to associate an entity when doing so), you gain additional abilities for searching and saving searches and more.
Q: What are all these columns?
A: The Contract Opportunities Data Dictionary PDF explains what each column represents.
Q: I don’t understand all these codes and values being used in the data
A: The Federal Service Desk (FSD.gov) is a generic help website for Federal data for all four main Federal Government data website. There is a search box for looking for specific terms and a section related to Opportunities.
Q: The opportunity spreadsheet has a lot of data; how do I know which rows I want to look at?
A: There is a column labeled “TYPE” which is the notice type for the opportunity. Ones currently open are type “Solicititaton”. There are a number of other types which are “Pre-Award” which indicate notices such as business fairs, Presolicitiation which tell you which things may be coming up and more. You can search FSD.GOV for Notice Types For Contract Opportunities and see the help article for the complete list.