Winning government bids: the questions contractors ask us
Every answer here is about the product as it works today. Nothing is described in the future tense.
The product
Is this not free on the government portal
The official federal portal is free and it is where federal notices are published. It publishes; it does not decide. A saved search there mails you raw notices by keyword, with no score, no reason, no state or local coverage and no award history in the same place. FederalContracts reads the same public record and tells you which few items are worth your capture time this week. Keep using the portal as the source of record. What you stop doing is the triage.
What exactly do I get each morning
A ranked list of new solicitations that fit your company profile, usually three to ten items. Each carries a match score out of 100, the agency, the NAICS code, the set-aside, the place of performance, the value band, the response deadline with days remaining, and one plain sentence saying why it fits you.
How does the matching actually work
Deterministically. NAICS overlap, capability keyword overlap against the notice text weighted by field, set-aside eligibility, place of performance, value band fit against your contract size and the feasibility of the remaining response window. Because the score is arithmetic rather than a guess, you can always see why an item ranked where it did.
What if the engine scores something wrong
Adjust the weighting on your profile and the next digest reflects it. A capability line that is too broad is the usual cause, and tightening it moves the whole list. The weak matches keep their scores and reasons, which makes it obvious what to change.
Can I use it for one business line and not another
Yes, that is what profiles are for. Capture gives you 5 business lines with a separate profile and a separate digest for each, so your IT pipeline and your facilities pipeline never arrive in the same email.
Data and coverage
Where does the data come from
Public procurement records: federal solicitation and award data published by the United States government, plus state, county and municipal bid boards. We read the sources, normalize them into one record shape and score them against your profile. Bid Match on the site runs on a dated snapshot of the federal data so you can see the scoring without signing anything.
Do you cover state and local bids
Capture and Enterprise cover state, county and municipal boards alongside federal solicitations. Bid Desk covers federal solicitations. For most contractors the state and local work is where the winnable volume sits, which is why it is in the middle plan rather than reserved for Enterprise. See state and local government bids.
How fast do notices arrive
Bid Desk delivers matches by the next business day. Capture delivers the same day. Enterprise carries same day delivery as a contractual commitment. Amendments, extensions and cancellations update your board the day they post.
Do you cover subcontracting and prime opportunities
Yes. Prime contractor sources can be ingested on Enterprise, and the approach for finding subcontract work is set out on federal subcontracting opportunities.
Do you show who won this work before
Yes. Competitor award history sits next to each opportunity: prior awards for the same NAICS code and agency, the awardees, the values and the dates. Last 3 years on Bid Desk, full history with exports on Capture and Enterprise.
Getting started
What happens after I sign up
You confirm your email with a six digit code, then build your company profile: NAICS codes, capability line, past performance, set-aside status, geography and contract size band. That profile drives every list you receive, and you can change it whenever the business changes.
How long does setup take
About ten minutes for the profile. Most of that time goes into the capability line, which is the field the scorer reads against the notice text and therefore the field worth writing carefully.
Can my whole team use it
Yes. Bid Desk includes 3 seats, Capture includes 15 with roles per business line, Enterprise is unlimited with SSO, roles and an audit log. Seats are included in the plan, so adding a colleague does not change your bill.
Do I need a SAM registration to use this
No. You need one to bid on federal work, not to receive matches. If your registration is lapsing, the steps are on sam registration renewal.
I am new to federal contracting, is this the right tool
It is, provided you know what you sell. The matching runs on your NAICS codes and capability, so start with what is a NAICS code, then read how to bid on a federal contract.
Security and billing
How do you handle our data
Your profile, your saved searches and your bid board belong to you. They are never sold, never pooled into a shared dataset and never used to advertise to anyone. Access control, encryption, retention and deletion are set out on federal contractor data security.
Can we get SSO and an audit log
Both are on Enterprise: SSO with SAML and OIDC, roles and permissions per business line, and an audit log covering profile changes, bid decisions and exports.
Can we pay by invoice
Capture can be paid by card or invoice. Enterprise is invoiced annually and works with purchase orders and a security review. Bid Desk is card only.
What does it cost
Bid Desk is 129 USD a month or 1,290 USD a year. Capture is 349 USD a month or 3,490 USD a year. Enterprise is annual and priced on your scope. Full feature lists sit on federal government bid sites.
Can I cancel whenever I want
Yes. Canceling stops the renewal and leaves access running to the end of the period you paid for. Your saved searches and bid history stay exportable until then.
See the government contracts you can actually win
Run the matcher on your own capability line and NAICS codes, then decide.
Your data stays yours. No card required.