US federal contracting
Federal RFPs, and every one that is open right now
There are 7,913 open US federal solicitations today, across 480 NAICS codes and 821 buying offices. 4,526 of them close within seven days.
What an RFP actually is
A Request for Proposal is how a US federal agency asks industry to propose a solution when price alone will not decide the award. You are asked for a technical approach, past performance and a price, and the agency evaluates all three against criteria it publishes in the document itself.
That last part is the part people miss. A federal RFP tells you, in writing and in advance, exactly how it will be scored. Most losing proposals are not beaten on merit — they are disqualified on something the document stated plainly.
RFP, RFQ, IFB, Sources Sought
These are not synonyms, and treating them as one is the most common way to waste a week.
| RFP — Request for Proposal | Best value. Technical approach and past performance are scored alongside price. Longest to answer. |
| RFQ — Request for Quotation | Usually price and availability against a stated specification. Much shorter, often commercial items. |
| IFB — Invitation for Bid | Sealed bidding. Lowest responsive, responsible bidder wins. No trade-off, no persuasion — your number is the argument. |
| Sources Sought / RFI | Not a solicitation at all. The agency is testing whether the market exists. Nothing is awarded, but the answers can decide whether the eventual work is set aside for small business. |
What is open today, by notice type
Live from SAM.gov, counted this hour.
| Combined Synopsis/Solicitation4,080 | Announcement and solicitation in one document, used for commercial items under FAR 12.603. Faster, and often a shorter deadline. |
| Solicitation2,807 | The full request. Requirements, evaluation criteria and a deadline — this is what most people mean by an RFP. |
| Presolicitation1,026 | Notice that a solicitation is coming. You cannot bid yet, but you can prepare — and this is where the early advantage is. |
3,724 of them are reserved for small business
A set-aside under FAR 19.5 does not mean small firms are encouraged to bid. It means large firms are barred from bidding at all. If you qualify under the size standard for the notice's NAICS code, your competition is only other small firms.
| 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 |
The remaining 4,080 are unrestricted — open to firms of any size.
Finding the ones that are yours
SAM.gov is the official source, it is free, and you do not need us to use it. What it will not do is tell you which of today's 7,913 notices you could actually win — that means reading each one against your NAICS code, your size, the set-aside and the deadline.
That is the job Bid-Smart does overnight. You get the few worth fifteen minutes at 7am, with the reason the rest were a no.
Browse what is open
- Search every open US federal notice — no account needed
- Construction, professional and technical services, and the other open categories
- Who actually wins US federal contracts — award history by NAICS and agency
- How US government contracts work, if you are new to this