For small firms
US government contracts, and whether any of them are yours
7,913 federal contracts are open today. 3,724 of them — about 47% — are reserved for small business, meaning large firms are barred from bidding.
The part most people get wrong
Federal contracting is not a closed shop, and it is not mostly won by giants. Congress sets an annual target for small-business share of federal prime contract dollars, and agencies meet it by reserving specific contracts — a set-aside — for firms below a size standard.
The practical consequence is unusual: on a set-aside, being small is not a disadvantage you have to overcome. It is the entry requirement. Your competition is other firms your size.
Four things that decide eligibility
| NAICS code | Every notice carries one. It says what kind of work this is, and it is the single best filter you have — there are 480 distinct codes open today. |
| Size standard | Attached to the NAICS code, not to your company. The same firm can be small for one code and large for another, measured by employee count or average receipts. |
| Set-aside type | Total Small Business is the common one. Others require a status you must already hold — service-disabled veteran, HUBZone, 8(a), women-owned. Bidding one you do not hold wastes the effort. |
| Deadline | 4,526 of today's open notices close within seven days. A perfect proposal filed late is not scored at all. |
What is set aside right now
| Small Business Set Aside - Total | 3,219 |
| Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) Set-Aside (FAR 19.14) | 280 |
| SBA Certified Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Program Set-Aside (FAR 19.15) | 136 |
| Historically Underutilized Business (HUBZone) Set-Aside (FAR 19.13) | 54 |
| 8(a) Set-Aside (FAR 19.8) | 44 |
| Indian Small Business Economic Enterprise | 36 |
Where to look
SAM.gov is the official source and it is free. Registering there is also mandatory before you can be awarded anything, so it is a step you cannot skip and should not pay anyone for. Anybody charging you to register is selling you a form you can file yourself.
What the portal does not do is judge. It will show you all 7,913 open notices; it will not tell you which ones your firm could win. Doing that means reading each notice against your NAICS code, your size, the set-aside and the calendar — every day, for the handful that survive.
Or let the reading happen overnight
Bid-Smart runs those checks on every new notice each night and emails you the few worth fifteen minutes at 7am — with the reason the others were a no. On the mornings nothing clears the bar, you get nothing at all.
Go deeper
- RFP, RFQ, IFB and Sources Sought — what each one actually asks of you
- Who wins US federal contracts — award history by NAICS code and agency
- Free US bid templates — capability statement, compliance matrix, sources-sought response
- Search every open notice — free, no account