How to find federal bids your small business qualifies for

Qualifying for a federal bid comes down to the notice's NAICS code and set-aside. The steps to check both, rank what's left by fit, and decide what to bid, with free tools.

The answer in one paragraph

Federal solicitations expected to exceed $25,000 are generally posted on SAM.gov, free to search without registering. Whether your small business qualifies depends on two things printed on the notice: its set-aside (who may bid) and its NAICS code (which sets the size standard you must meet). SpendQuery lists every open SAM.gov notice with both, lets you filter by your codes, set-aside and place, ranks the notices by how close they are to your company, and links each to the size standard checker and a bid/no-bid check.

Step by step

Know your codes: the NAICS codes buyers actually use for your work (the NAICS finder shows them, from real notices and contracts).
Filter open notices by those codes, your state and the set-asides you hold: small business, 8(a), HUBZone, women-owned (WOSB/EDWOSB), service-disabled veteran-owned.
Check the size standard for each notice's NAICS code: your average annual receipts (last five completed years) or employees, counting affiliates, must be under it. The code on the notice decides, not the codes in your registration.
Rank what's left by fit: describe your work, or name your company, and notices are sorted by how close they are to what you do.
Read the brief for each one: what the buyer needs, the deadline, the likely incumbent, how many companies usually bid at that office.
Score the best few with the bid/no-bid check, and save the search so new matches arrive by alert.

A worked example

A janitorial company with $9 million in average annual receipts looks at a VA notice coded NAICS 561720 and set aside for small businesses. The size standard for 561720 is $22 million, so it qualifies on size. If the same notice were set aside for service-disabled veteran-owned firms, it would also need that SBA certification. Before bidding it checks the incumbent's contract (value, end date, options) and the office's usual number of offers.

Before the notice: earlier signals

Sources-sought notices and RFIs: market research the contracting officer uses to decide whether to set the buy aside (the rule of two). Answer them.
Agency procurement forecasts and contracts ending soon show buys months before the solicitation.
Free help: APEX Accelerators (formerly PTACs) and each agency's small business office.

On SpendQuery

Official sources

Questions people ask

What tools help a small business find open federal solicitations it actually qualifies for?

SAM.gov lists every open notice. SpendQuery adds filters for your NAICS codes, set-asides and place, the size standard for each notice's code, a ranking by fit with your company, a brief with the likely incumbent, a bid/no-bid check and alerts, free. APEX Accelerators give free one-on-one help.

Does a set-aside filter tell me I qualify?

No. It shows who may bid. You must also be small under the size standard of the notice's NAICS code, counting affiliates, and hold any certification the set-aside requires (8(a), HUBZone, WOSB, SDVOSB).

Do I need to register in SAM.gov to search?

No. Searching is free without an account; you must be registered in SAM.gov when you submit an offer.

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Updated 2026-10-21. General information, not legal advice; the solicitation and the FAR govern each purchase.