AI-powered Search - SamSearch

SamSearch search page with sources and filters

Most sources return only Active opportunities (those with a future due date) by default. Federal, DIBBS and Subcontracting are the exceptions — they apply no date filter, so expired opportunities appear in results marked Past Due. To control this, open Filters and set Due Date. See Default filters by source.

SLED, Canada, DIBBS, Recompete, Forecasts, Subcontracting, Grants, SBIR/STTR, GSA eBuy, and Multi-Source all require SLED access, which comes with the Pro and Enterprise plans. Without it, Search shows Federal only. If you expected to see more sources and don’t, this is almost always why — see Plans & upgrades.

Quickstart

Pick a source

Choose a source such as Federal, SLED, or Recompete from the sources row.

Describe what you want

In Smart Search mode, type your query in plain English. Switch to Keyword Search when you need boolean operators.

Search and save

Press Search, then use Save Search on results worth tracking. Manage saved queries on Saved & History.

New to SamSearch? The empty Search page shows a handful of suggested queries — click any to run an example search.

Search page empty state with suggested example queries

Search modes

Smart Search and Keyword Search mode toggle

Every searchable source supports two modes, which you switch between with the Search Mode: toggle.

Smart Search (default)

Smart Search blends keyword matching with semantic (meaning-based) matching, then merges and re-ranks both result sets. You don’t need boolean operators; describe what you’re looking for in plain English. Examples:

“AI solutions for cybersecurity”
“construction services for government buildings”
“software development for healthcare systems”

Keyword Search

Keyword Search gives you exact control with quoted phrases and AND / OR / NOT boolean logic. No semantic matching is applied. Basic examples:

("cybersecurity" AND "AI") OR (NOT "project management")
"construction" AND ("government" OR "federal")
"software" AND "healthcare" AND NOT "hardware"

Keyword Search syntax reference

Full operator reference: phrases, AND/OR/NOT, wildcards, fuzzy matching, and worked examples.

Smart Search
Keyword Search

Use Smart Search when:

You want to search using natural language
You are exploring opportunities and want broad, relevant results
You prefer AI to understand intent and context
You are new to government contracting searches

AI Query Helper

The AI Query Helper is only available in Keyword Search mode.

If you know roughly what you want but don’t want to write boolean syntax by hand, the AI Query Helper drafts it for you.

Open the helper

Switch to Keyword Search mode, then click AI helper in the search bar (tooltip: Build a keyword query with AI).

Describe what you're looking for

Under the Describe what you’re looking for: label, type a plain-English description — for example: “I need cybersecurity services for cloud infrastructure but not project management roles.”

Generate the query

Click Generate Query (it shows Generating… briefly). SamSearch converts your description into a boolean query, e.g. ("cybersecurity" AND "cloud infrastructure") AND (NOT "project management").

Refine or apply it

Use Edit to tweak the generated query by hand, Copy Query to copy it to your clipboard (confirms Copied!), or New Query to start over. The generated query is inserted straight into the search box.

AI Query Helper panel for building a keyword search query

Tip: Be specific about what you want to include and exclude. The AI will generate a Boolean query using AND, OR, and NOT operators.

Sources

SamSearch supports multiple opportunity sources. Toggle between them to find opportunities that match your business.

If you want…	Use this source
Federal solicitations on SAM.gov	Federal
State, city, county, education, and local government RFPs	SLED
Canadian federal, provincial, and municipal tenders	Canada
DLA supply / small-parts opportunities	DIBBS
Contracts ending soon for follow-on bids	Recompete
Opportunities agencies plan to release	Forecasts
Prime-contractor subcontracting needs	Subcontracting
Federal grant funding	Grants
Small Business Innovation Research / Tech Transfer funding	SBIR/STTR
Your organization’s private GSA eBuy RFQs	GSA eBuy
Cast a wide net across sources at once	Multi-Source

Multi-Source

Search across multiple sources simultaneously.

Federal Contracts

Traditional government contracts and solicitations

SLED Opportunities

State, Local, and Education contracts

Canada

Federal, provincial, and municipal Canadian tenders

DIBBS

Defense Logistics Agency opportunities

Forecasts

Upcoming contract opportunities

Subcontracting

Subcontracting opportunities from prime contractors

Grants

Federal grant opportunities

Recompete

Expiring contracts likely to be recompeted

SBIR/STTR

Small business R&D funding programs

GSA eBuy

Your organization’s private eBuy RFQs

Source guides

Federal Contracts

Federal contracts are solicitations from SAM.gov, covering agencies including DOD, GSA, VA, and more. Federal listings that also come through the DoD’s PIEE system carry a PIEE badge on the result card.

SLED Opportunities

SLED covers state, county, city, education, and special-district opportunities across all 50 states.

Can’t find a specific site? Email support@samsearch.co — we add new sources regularly.

Canada Opportunities

Canada covers federal, provincial, and municipal Canadian procurement tenders.

Canada is off for AI Recommendations by default. It still appears in Search; to have it feed your recommendations, turn it on in Sources & Alerts in your Company Profile.

DIBBS Opportunities

DIBBS (Defense Logistics Agency Internet Bid Board System) lists DLA supply and service opportunities.

DIBBS has no default date filter — like Federal and Subcontracting, it does not default to “Active only.” Set a Due Date filter yourself if you only want open solicitations.

Forecasts

Forecasts show upcoming opportunities agencies plan to release — useful for early pipeline building. Forecast listings are planning-stage: there’s no “posted” or “due” date, only estimated award timing, so Forecast has no default filters at all and can only be sorted by Relevance.

Subcontracting

Find subcontracting opportunities posted by prime contractors. Filter by Confidence to prioritize the strongest leads.

High Confidence

Active subcontracting opportunities posted by prime contractors seeking small business subcontractors.

Medium Confidence

Inferred opportunities from federal contracts with subcontracting plans (FAR 52.219-9). The prime isn’t directly soliciting but is required to subcontract.

Low Confidence

Similar to medium, but with approaching deadlines or lower contract amounts.

The Confidence filter only offers Medium and High. Low-confidence results still appear in your results and are labelled Low on the card — there just isn’t a filter chip for them, so you can’t isolate or exclude them.

Subcontracting has no default date filter, and its Due Date / Posted Date filters only offer preset ranges (no custom calendar range like other sources).

Federal Grants

Federal grants from NIH, NSF, DOE, and other grant-making agencies.

Recompete

Recompete surfaces federal contracts approaching the end of their period of performance so you can position for the follow-on award before a new solicitation posts. Why recompetes matter:

Early identification before competitors react to posted solicitations
Higher win probability when you understand the incumbent contract
Strategic pipeline building from award data and agency behavior

Filter by Contract End Date to focus on contracts expiring soon and maximize preparation time. See the Recompete tab in the Filters reference below for the full tooltip glossary.

SBIR and STTR

Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) are competitive R&D programs that fund small businesses developing and commercializing new technology.

SBIR/STTR status only ever shows Open or Pre-Release — sbir.gov’s own data export never includes closed topics, so you will never see a “Closed” status here.

GSA eBuy

GSA eBuy shows your organization’s private RFQs, synced directly from your eBuy integration.

GSA eBuy is not searchable — there’s no search box or Smart/Keyword toggle for it. All RFQs your organization is eligible for are shown automatically; use the filter toolbar to narrow the list. Set up the integration on GSA eBuy Setup.

Multi-Source

Enable Multi-Source to search several sources at once. All sources are selected by default except Recompete, which you must add explicitly; you cannot deselect the last remaining source. GSA eBuy is never included — it isn’t part of the searchable index.

Multi-Source only supports two filters: Due Date and Posted Date. Verbatim in-app copy: “Multi-Source supports the filters shared across every source. Switch to a single source to access its full set of filters.” Every other filter — NAICS, set-aside, agency, and so on — requires switching to a single source.

You also can’t save a search while Multi-Source has more than one source selected — switch to a single source first if you want to save it with alerts.

Filters

Each source has its own sort and filter options. Open Filters from the search bar.

Default filters by source

Federal, DIBBS, and Subcontracting do not filter out expired opportunities by default. A search on those sources returns closed solicitations alongside open ones, marked Past Due in red on the card. If you only want open solicitations, open Filters and click Active only yourself.

Source	Default date filter
Federal	None — includes expired opportunities until you set one
SLED	Due Date: Active only
Canada	Due Date: Active only
DIBBS	None
Forecasts	None — no default filters at all
Grants	Due Date: Active only
Recompete	Contract End Date: “All recompetes” (now through +30 years)
Subcontracting	None
SBIR/STTR	Close Date: Active only
GSA eBuy	n/a — see GSA eBuy filters below
Multi-Source	Due Date: Active only

Sort options

Relevance, Newest First, Oldest First, Due Date (Soonest), Due Date (Latest) — available on every source except Forecasts.

Forecasts can only be sorted by Relevance. Forecast listings have no posted or due date to sort by.

Filter	Notes
Due Date	No default — expired opportunities are included until you pick a range. Click Active only for open solicitations only.
Posted Date	—
Contract Type	Special Notice, Sources Sought, Presolicitation, Solicitation, Combined Synopsis/Solicitation, Consolidate/(Substantially) Bundle
Set-Aside Code	See table below
NAICS	Searchable; suggestions from your Company Profile appear under “From your profile”
PSC (Product/Service Code)	Searchable
Department/Agency → Sub-Agency → Office	Cascading — choosing a department clears Sub-Agency and Office; choosing a Sub-Agency clears Office
Country / State-Territory / Zip Code	—
[Beta] Product/Service, RFX Type, Simplified Acquisition Only	AI-tagged fields, labeled Beta in the UI

Set-Aside codes:

Code	Meaning
SBA	Total Small Business
SBP	Partial Small Business
8A	8(a)
8AN	8(a) Sole Source
HZC	HUBZone Set-Aside
HZS	HUBZone Sole Source
SDVOSBC	Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business
SDVOSBS	Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business, Sole Source
WOSB	Woman-Owned Small Business
WOSBSS	Woman-Owned Small Business, Sole Source
EDWOSB	Economically Disadvantaged Woman-Owned Small Business
EDWOSBSS	Economically Disadvantaged Woman-Owned Small Business, Sole Source
LAS	Local Area Set-Aside
IEE	Indian Economic Enterprise
ISBEE	Indian Small Business Economic Enterprise
BICiv	Buy Indian
VSA	Veteran-Owned Set-Aside
VSS	Veteran-Owned Sole Source

Filter	Notes
Due Date	Default: Active only
Posted Date	—
Province	Searchable
Level	Federal, Provincial, Municipal, Education, Health, Transit, Water, Crown, Other
Jurisdiction	Searchable
[Beta] Product/Service, RFX Type, NAICS	AI-tagged fields

Filter	Notes
Due Date	No default
Issue Date	—
Status	Open, Cancelled, Awarded, Removed
Set-Aside	WOSB, Small Business, SDVOSB, HUBZone
Fast Award	Yes / No
AIDC	Yes / No
[Beta] NAICS	AI-tagged field

No default filters. Sortable by Relevance only.

Filter	Notes
Estimated Award FY Quarter	Q1–Q4
Estimated Award Fiscal Year	Current year through +9 years
Product or Service	—
Requirement Type	Exercise of Option, New Requirement, Recompete
Set-Aside Group	See table below
Extent Competed Group	See table below
Contract Value	Min / max
Agency / State	—

Set-Aside Group:8(a) · AbilityOne · Competitive · EDWOSB · Follow-on · Full and Open / Unrestricted · HUBZone · IEE / ISBEE · Mandatory Source · Partial Set-Aside · SDVOSB · Set-Aside · Small Business · Small Disadvantaged Business · Sole Source · Veteran-Owned Small Business · WOSBExtent Competed Group:AbilityOne · Architect-Engineer (A&E) · Delivery Order · Follow-on · Full and Open Competition · Not Competed · Set-Aside · Sole Source · To Be Determined

Filter	Notes
Status	Posted, Forecasted
Due Date (Response Date)	Default: Active only
Posted Date	—
Last Updated Date	Custom calendar only — no preset chips
Agencies	Searchable, ~397 agencies
Applicant Types	17 types, matching the standard grants.gov applicant-type vocabulary (tribal governments, institutions of higher education, nonprofits with and without 501(c)(3) status, individuals, small businesses, and more)
Funding Categories	26 categories, including Health, Education, Energy, Environment, IIJA, Opportunity Zone Benefits, and Recovery Act
Funding Instruments	Cooperative Agreement, Grant, Procurement Contract, Other
Opportunity Category	Continuation, Discretionary, Earmark, Mandatory, Other

Filter	Notes
Contract End Date	Presets: 6–12 months, 12–18 months, 18–24 months, All recompetes (default — now through +30 years)
Recompete Score Estimate	High, Medium
Has Linked SAM Opportunities	On/off switch — on shows only recompetes with linked SAM.gov notices; off applies no filter
Agency Forecast Confirmed	On/off switch — on shows only recompetes matched to an agency forecast; off applies no filter
Recompete Classification	Primary, Secondary
Award Type	BPA Call, Definitive Contract, Delivery Order, Purchase Order
Business Size	Small Business, Other Than Small Business
Contract Value	Min / max
Extent Competed	Competed Under SAP, Full and Open Competition, Full and Open Competition After Exclusion of Sources, Not Available for Competition, Not Competed, Not Competed Under SAP
Set-Aside / NAICS / Department-Agency / Sub-Agency / State	—

Tooltip glossary (shown throughout Recompete):

Term	Definition
High score	Strong indicators for successful recompete pursuit based on favorable agency behavior, contract readiness, and market dynamics.
Medium score	Moderate potential requiring further assessment of agency priorities and competitive landscape.
Has Linked SAM Opportunities	Indicates if this recompete opportunity has historical contract records in SAM.gov. Access past contract documents, specifications, and award details to inform your strategy.
Agency Forecast Confirmed	Filter recompetes that have been confirmed by an agency forecast signal. Forecasts are advance procurement plans published by federal agencies, providing stronger evidence the contract will be re-solicited.
Primary classification	Direct recompete of an existing contract.
Secondary classification	Related opportunity that may result from the primary recompete.
BPA Call	Blanket Purchase Agreement — streamlined ordering under pre-negotiated terms.
Definitive Contract	Standard government contract with specific terms and obligations.
Delivery Order	Individual order placed against an IDIQ or contract vehicle.
Purchase Order	Simple procurement for supplies or services.
SAP	Simplified Acquisition Procedures — streamlined process for purchases under $250K.
Full and Open Competition	All responsible sources permitted to compete.
Follow On	Continuation of a previously competed contract.

Recompete is excluded from Multi-Source by default — add it explicitly if you want it included.

Filter	Notes
Due Date	No default; preset chips only, no custom range
Posted Date	Preset chips only, no custom range
Confidence	Filter offers Medium and High only — see note below
NAICS	—
State	—

Confidence definitions (all three appear on result cards):

Tier	Definition	Filterable?
High	Active subcontracting opportunities posted by prime contractors seeking small business subcontractors.	Yes
Medium	Inferred opportunities from federal contracts with subcontracting plans (FAR 52.219-9). Prime not directly soliciting but required to subcontract.	Yes
Low	Similar to medium but with approaching deadlines or lower contract amounts.	No — shown on cards, but there is no filter chip for it

Filter	Notes
Close Date	Default: Active only
Release Date	—
Program	SBIR, STTR
Phase	Phase I, Phase II, Phase I & Phase II
Status	Open, Pre-Release only — sbir.gov’s export never includes closed topics
Agency	Searchable (44 agencies, e.g. DOD, NIH, NSF, NASA, DARPA, SBA, and others)
Branch	Searchable

GSA eBuy has no Smart/Keyword search box. Use its filter toolbar instead:

Filter	Notes
Status	All, Active, Closed, Cancelled
Vehicle/Contract	Only shown if your organization has more than one connected vehicle
Due Date / Posted Date	—
Agency, Office, Category, Set Aside	Free-text, matches as you type
Has Attachments, Has Amendments, Has Q&A, Has Line Items	Toggle chips

Search results

Click any result to open the full opportunity. Learn more on Contract Page Overview.

Search result card showing source tags and highlighted keyword matches

What’s on a result card

Each source shows a different set of tags, matching what’s meaningful for that kind of opportunity:

Source	Key tags shown
Federal	Type, Agency, Sub-Agency, Office, NAICS, Set-Aside, and a PIEE badge when the listing also came through the DoD’s PIEE system
SLED	Agency, Type, State, Jurisdiction, Level
Canada	Agency, Type, Province, Jurisdiction, Level
DIBBS	Status, Set-Aside, Fast Award, Buyer Code, AIDC, Estimated Value
Recompete	Sub-Agency, NAICS, Current Vendor, Location, Business Size, Award Type, Recompete Probability, Recompete Classification, Contract Value, Set-Aside, Extent Competed, plus Contract Vehicle (e.g., “IDIQ · 12 Task Orders”) for task orders under a shared vehicle and Agency Forecast (“Confirmed”) when an agency forecast is linked
Forecasts	Agency, NAICS, Set-Aside Group, Requirement Type, Competition, Estimated Value, Award Year/Quarter (no posted or due date)
Subcontracting	Prime Contractor, Award Amount, Location, NAICS, Set-Aside, Confidence
Grants	Agency, Category, Status
SBIR/STTR	Program, Phase, Agency, Branch, Status, Release/Close dates
GSA eBuy	Agency, Office, Category, Vehicle, SIN, Status, Set-Aside, Attachment/Amendment/Q&A counts

Several sources also show AI-tagged Product/Service and RFX Type fields, marked Beta.

Keyword Matches

When your search terms match the opportunity text, a Keyword Matches panel on the card highlights the matched snippets, grouped by field. Use Show more fields to see additional matches, and the copy button to copy the highlighted text.

Export results

Click Export above the result list to download the current result set (respecting your filters) as CSV.

Dismissing opportunities

Not every result belongs in your list. Most sources let you dismiss opportunities you’re not interested in.

Dismiss a result

Click Not Interested on any result card. It disappears from your current results right away.

Undo, if needed

A confirmation toast appears with an Undo button for 5 seconds — click it to bring the opportunity straight back.

Find it again later

Dismissed opportunities land on their own Dismissed Opportunities page, so nothing is lost for good.

Restore if needed

Restore an opportunity from that page and it reappears in your search results automatically — no manual re-search required.

Dismissed Opportunities page listing previously dismissed results

GSA eBuy results cannot be dismissed. Every other source — Federal, SLED, Forecasts, Grants, SBIR/STTR, DIBBS, Canada, Subcontracting, and Recompete — supports dismissing.

The Dismissed Opportunities page only holds opportunities you dismissed manually from Search. It’s a separate list from the AI Recommendations Archive — dismissing something here has no effect on your Recommendations, and dismissing a recommendation doesn’t add it here.

Dismissing an opportunity is separate from hiding a source. Source visibility is controlled per-source in the Sources & Alerts tab of your Company Profile — at least one source must always stay active, so you can’t accidentally hide all your results. Hiding a source also stops it from generating AI Recommendations.

Saving and managing results

Save Search

Use Save Search to store your current query, source, mode, and filters.

Saved dropdown for loading a previously saved search

Use the Saved dropdown next to Save Search to load a previously saved query without leaving the Search page.

Manage alerts, sharing, and history on Saved & History.

Save opportunities

Click Save on any result to add it to Saved Opportunities.

Search tips

Use natural language in Smart Search for exploration
Be specific — include industry, service type, or location
Try different sources — the same work may appear under multiple categories
Use filters strategically — start broad, then narrow
Save searches — monitor markets with alerts on Saved & History

Common search recipes

Copy-paste examples for Texas SLED, recompetes, grants, subcontracting, and more.

​Quickstart

​Search modes

​Smart Search (default)

​Keyword Search

Keyword Search syntax reference

​AI Query Helper

​Sources

Multi-Source

Federal Contracts

SLED Opportunities

Canada

DIBBS

Forecasts

Subcontracting

Grants

Recompete

SBIR/STTR

GSA eBuy

​Source guides

​Federal Contracts

​SLED Opportunities

​Canada Opportunities

​DIBBS Opportunities

​Forecasts

​Subcontracting

High Confidence

Medium Confidence

Low Confidence

​Federal Grants

​Recompete

​SBIR and STTR

​GSA eBuy

​Multi-Source

​Filters

​Default filters by source

​Sort options

​Search results

​What’s on a result card

​Keyword Matches

​Export results

​Dismissing opportunities

​Saving and managing results

​Save Search

​Save opportunities

​Search tips

Common search recipes

Quickstart

Search modes

Smart Search (default)

Keyword Search

AI Query Helper

Sources

Source guides

Federal Contracts

SLED Opportunities

Canada Opportunities

DIBBS Opportunities

Forecasts

Subcontracting

Federal Grants

Recompete

SBIR and STTR

GSA eBuy

Multi-Source

Filters

Default filters by source

Sort options

Search results

What’s on a result card

Keyword Matches

Export results

Dismissing opportunities

Saving and managing results

Save Search

Save opportunities

Search tips