SAM.gov contract notices: discovery, not bid scoring¶
Technical version: SAM.gov Opportunities API recon
Verdict¶
Conditional go for a daily pull + local cache of public contract opportunities (set-asides such as SDVOSB/VOSB, NAICS, notice type, dates, place of performance). This is for veterans and others exploring independent contracting discovery.
It is not a green light for “win likelihood %,” composite bid scores, or any eligibility oracle. Surface facts and link out to SAM.gov. WorkWingman never submits proposals.
Rate limits that decide architecture¶
A bare individual public key is on the order of ~10 requests/day — too thin for real browse + description fetches. An entity-associated or system account key around ~1,000 requests/day is the workable tier for a product cache. Confirm current official tables before capacity freezes.
Bulk Data Services extracts are a strong complement for full active sets; the public search API is better for filtered deltas and detail links. Description bodies often cost extra requests.
Paths that are no-go¶
- Unauthenticated HTML scraping of sam.gov (terms prohibit bots for data gathering)
- Sharing individual API keys across users
- Treating UI deep links as proof of submit rights without human verification on SAM