Data Sources & Attribution

GovBeacon aggregates federal contract opportunity and award data from publicly available U.S. government sources. We do not claim ownership of any of this source data — federal procurement records are public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105. What we add is aggregation, normalization, search, scoring, and analytical tooling on top of that raw data. This page documents each underlying source and how we use it.

Operated by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), SAM.gov is the official U.S. government website for federal contract opportunities, awards, and contractor registrations. We ingest posted opportunities and award notices from SAM.gov via its public APIs. SAM.gov is the canonical source for federal contract opportunities; if information shown on GovBeacon ever conflicts with SAM.gov for a given solicitation, treat SAM.gov as authoritative.

Operated by the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency, DIBBs posts DLA solicitations — primarily for parts, supplies, and equipment — many of which fall below the dollar threshold that would require posting on SAM.gov. We surface DIBBs solicitations alongside SAM.gov opportunities so that small-business contractors targeting DLA work can find them in one interface. Original DIBBs postings remain the authoritative record.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) coordinates the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. Award and topic data is published through sbir.gov. We ingest SBIR/STTR award notices and surface them alongside SAM.gov and DIBBs data so contractors targeting research-and- development work can see opportunity-and-award context in one place. We are not affiliated with or endorsed by the SBA or any participating agency; SBIR/STTR data shown on GovBeacon is derived from sbir.gov's public dataset.

Award statistics on GovBeacon reflect contract actions recorded in the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) and published through SAM.gov and USAspending.gov. Dollar amounts represent obligated values at the time of recording and may not reflect later modifications, deobligations, or close-out adjustments. For authoritative award amounts on a specific contract, consult the underlying FPDS or USAspending record.

We refresh our aggregated datasets on a scheduled basis from the upstream sources. Refresh timing can vary, and there is always some lag between an upstream change and when it appears on GovBeacon. For time-sensitive decisions — submitting a proposal, responding to a deadline, verifying eligibility — always check the originating government source directly before acting.

GovBeacon is a private platform operated by Gaia Bull LLC d/b/a GovBeacon. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or authorized by any U.S. government agency. References to government sources, programs, and data are descriptive only. Trademarks, agency names, and program names are property of their respective owners.