Get Onto Federal Contract with the Right Business Plan.

There are several different ways you can start bidding on government contracts at the local, state and federal level. Before choosing how you would like to approach looking for contracts in the public sector for government contracts to bid on, however, first you will need to register your business with the System for Award Management (SAM) to be eligible for federal contracts.

Find the contracts & Create a SAM profile

To create your SAM profile you will need to supply your DUNS number for your business with government contracts to bid on, which can be obtained from Dun and Bradstreet at dnb.com.

You will also need to provide your North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes. Create a list of codes that best describe the products or services that your business provides. (This information will also come in handy later, when you are identifying the contracts that you want to bid on.)

United States Census Bureau website screenshot on government contracts to bid on

When your SAM profile is complete, you are ready to bid on government contracts that match well with your business’ service offer. Your SAM profile will also provide the information needed to receive direct payments from the government for work completed after you have been awarded a contract.

Once you are registered as a vendor with the government, you can explore the different options that are available for researching, evaluating, and bidding on government contract opportunities. Remember that if you are certified as a small, minority- or women-owned business, you may qualify for preferential access to certain contracts.

Find the best option for your needs

First, we will look at how you can find the contracts that you’re interested in. Then we will explain how to bid on a government contract with step-by-step instructions.


Doing it Yourself

Federal government contracts are published on the FedBizOpps website. If you want to pursue contracts at the federal level, you can register your business with FedBizOpps to receive notifications about new opportunities that align well with your business.

Finding suitable contracts at the state, county, regional and municipal levels can be much more time-consuming for small and medium-sized vendors. With thousands of Requests for Proposal (RFP), Requests for Quote (RFQ) and Invitations for Bid (IFB) being published across the U.S. every day, it can be difficult to keep up with them all.

In order to find opportunities in these jurisdictions, you will need to visit state bidding portals, municipal administration websites for government contracts to bid on, and county purchasing departments. Most of these portals require you to complete a registration process.

If your business employs a person dedicated solely to researching contract opportunities, the do-it-yourself method can work for you. Keep in mind, however, that the time required to evaluate if a contract is right for your business for government contracts to bid on can lead to spending a lot of resources on research and evaluation, instead of bidding on contracts.

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