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To find U.S. federal contract awards, search SAM.gov Contract Awards for a specific company, agency, solicitation, notice, or PIID. For a filtered, downloadable list, use USAspending.gov Advanced Search. These are federal systems—not a complete directory of state, local, tribal, or foreign government awards.
Which federal contract-award search should you use?
| Your goal | Best route | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Look up a particular award, company, agency, solicitation, or notice | SAM.gov Contract Awards | Search individual public contract-action records. SAM.gov supports keyword and legal business name searches, among other filters. |
| Create and download a filtered list | USAspending.gov Advanced Search | Filter prime awards and transactions or subawards by dates, recipient, agency, award ID, and other attributes, then download results. |
| Analyze contract actions and modifications in report form | SAM.gov DataBank | Run standard contract-data reports; available filtering, sorting, graphing, and export options depend on the report. |
GSA says that all public-facing FPDS functionality has transitioned to SAM.gov. FPDS.gov redirects users to SAM.gov, and the former ezSearch was decommissioned on February 24, 2026. Use the current SAM.gov search rather than following older instructions for ezSearch. GSA’s SAM.gov contract-award guidance
How to search for a specific federal contract award on SAM.gov
- Open SAM.gov and go to the Contract Awards search under Contracting.
- Sign in to a SAM.gov account to view search results. Public users do not need a special role, but the account sign-in is required.
- Enter the most specific identifier you have: a PIID (Procurement Instrument Identifier), solicitation number, notice number, or a distinctive keyword. Search by legal business name when looking for a company.
- Narrow the results with relevant agency, keyword, or business-name filters. Try a company’s formal legal name and then a distinctive shorter term if the first query misses records.
- Open the matching record and check the award identifier, agency, recipient, action details, and dates before treating it as the result you need.
SAM.gov’s public search covers publicly available, unclassified contract actions exceeding the micro-purchase threshold, along with modifications that change previously reported information regardless of dollar value. That describes the search’s scope; it is not a guarantee that every purchase or every relevant record appears. GSA’s SAM.gov contract-award guidance
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How to build a downloadable list with USAspending.gov
- Open USAspending.gov Advanced Search.
- Choose the award mode that matches your question: Prime Awards and Transactions for federal prime-award records, or Subawards for reported subaward data.
- Set a fiscal year or custom date range. Use the date dimension appropriate to your query, and record it so that later comparisons use the same period.
- Add filters for the recipient, awarding agency, award ID, keyword or award description, amount, NAICS code, Product and Service Code (PSC), pricing type, set-aside, or competition extent as needed.
- Review the matching records and use the interface’s download controls to export the results for analysis.
USAspending’s available search modes and filters are described on its Advanced Search page. A subcontract or subaward search is not interchangeable with a search for federal prime awards; select the mode deliberately.
Choose the right amount and location fields
- Obligations versus outlays: An obligation is a federal commitment of funds; an outlay is money actually paid. They are different measures, so do not treat either field as a generic contract price without checking its definition.
- Recipient location versus place of performance: A recipient’s headquarters or registration address can be far from where the work takes place. If you want to know where a project is performed, use the place-of-performance information rather than assuming the recipient’s address answers that question.
- Prime awards versus subawards: Decide whether you want the federal award to a prime recipient or a reported downstream subaward. Combining or comparing them without labeling the distinction can mislead.
- Comparisons: Keep the time period, agency, recipient, award identifier, amount measure, award level, and location type consistent. Congressional district boundaries can change, so district-level comparisons require particular care.
The Congressional Research Service report on federal-award tracking, updated April 22, 2025, discusses these definitions and cautions, including the difference between recipient and performance location.
Use SAM.gov DataBank for contract reports
For report-oriented work rather than a single-record lookup, use the DataBank route described by SAM.gov: Contracting > DataBank, then select a standard contract-data report. Standard reports provide award and modification information. Depending on the report, you can filter, sort, graph, and export the data. Report features vary, so check the controls available in the particular report before building an analysis around them. SAM.gov Contract Award Data · SAM.gov Contract Data Standard Reports
Why a recent award may not appear yet
Federal award data is not necessarily visible immediately after an announcement or contract action. USAspending documentation says contract data generally appears within five days after an award or modification. It also describes a 90-day publication delay for Department of Defense and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contract data. A 30-day submission allowance applies to certain actions, not every award. These figures are described in USAspending’s documentation, published approximately 2025, and should be read within those stated conditions. USAspending.gov, About the Data and Downloads
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Coverage limits and how to verify an important result
USAspending documentation describes a $25,000 prime-award obligation reporting threshold. It also states that, as of 2022, the micro-purchase threshold was $10,000 with exceptions; that dated figure should not be assumed to be the current threshold. Thresholds and reporting rules can change, so consult current federal acquisition rules before relying on a threshold for a present-day compliance decision. USAspending.gov data documentation
Neither a search result nor a downloaded file should be treated as proof that every related action is present or perfectly described. The Congressional Research Service has noted continuing USAspending data-quality issues. For a consequential finding, inspect the underlying award record and, where appropriate, the awarding agency’s notice. The CRS report describes USAspending award search as including prime and first-tier subaward data back to FY2008, but check current interface coverage and definitions rather than assuming that historical description guarantees present coverage for every query. Congressional Research Service, updated April 22, 2025
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Common problems and fixes
- No SAM.gov results: Confirm you are signed in, then try the company’s legal business name, a shorter distinctive keyword, or an exact PIID, solicitation, or notice number. Check that a restrictive filter is not excluding the record.
- A newly announced award is missing: Allow for the normal reporting and publication sequence, then search again. DoD and USACE data can have the longer delay described above.
- The award amount seems wrong: Check whether the field is an obligation or outlay, and whether the record is an award, a transaction, or a subaward. Those distinctions affect what the number represents.
- The company’s state does not match the project: The displayed recipient address may not be the place of performance. Use the performance-location field for a project-location question.
- A downloaded list does not answer the question: Revisit the search mode, fiscal-year or date range, and recipient/agency filters. Make sure the requested data are prime awards, transactions, or subawards as intended.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Can I search SAM.gov contract awards without a special role?
Yes. Public users need to sign in to a SAM.gov account to see results, but do not need a special role.
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Does SAM.gov show state and local government contracts?
No. The search discussed here is for U.S. federal contract actions; state, local, tribal, and non-U.S. systems are separate.
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