How to Find Government Contracts for Your Small Business in 2026

Why Government Contracting Matters for Small Businesses

The federal government is required by law to award at least 23% of all prime contract dollars to small businesses. In fiscal year 2025, agencies awarded approximately $195 billion to small firms — and that number continues to grow.

Beyond the sheer dollar volume, government contracts offer something rare in the private sector: predictability. Federal agencies plan their spending 12-18 months in advance. They publish requirements publicly. And once you win a multi-year contract, you have reliable revenue for 3-5 years. For a small business trying to stabilize cash flow, that predictability is transformative.

There are also programs specifically designed to help small businesses compete — set-aside programs that restrict competition to qualified small firms. If you qualify for one of these designations, you're competing against a much smaller pool. We'll cover those below.

The challenge? Finding the right opportunities. The government posts thousands of new solicitations every week, and most small business owners don't have time to wade through them. That's the problem we're solving, but first, let's walk through the fundamentals.

Step 1: Get Registered on SAM.gov

Before you can bid on any federal contract, you need an active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM.gov). This is non-negotiable — agencies literally cannot pay you without it.

Here's what the registration process involves:

• Get a UEI (Unique Entity Identifier). This replaced the old DUNS number in 2022. You'll get one automatically when you start your SAM.gov registration.
• Create a SAM.gov account. Go to sam.gov and register as an entity. You'll need your EIN, business address, bank account details, and NAICS codes.
• Complete the entity registration. This takes 30-60 minutes for the initial form. The government then validates your information, which can take 7-10 business days.
• Renew annually. SAM.gov registrations expire after one year. Set a calendar reminder — an expired registration means you can't receive contract awards.

One important note: SAM.gov registration is completely free. If a website is charging you to register, it's a scam. The government does not charge for SAM.gov access.

Step 2: Understand Your NAICS Codes

NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) codes are how the government categorizes what your business does. When an agency posts a contract opportunity, they assign it one or more NAICS codes. When you register on SAM.gov, you select the NAICS codes that describe your capabilities.

Getting your NAICS codes right is critical. Too broad, and you'll see opportunities you can't actually perform. Too narrow, and you'll miss contracts you're perfectly qualified for.

For example, if you run an IT consulting firm, you might use:

• 541511 — Custom Computer Programming Services
• 541512 — Computer Systems Design Services
• 541519 — Other Computer Related Services

You can look up NAICS codes at census.gov/naics. Most small businesses should register with 3-8 NAICS codes that cover their primary and adjacent capabilities.

For a deeper dive, read our complete guide to NAICS codes for government contractors.

Step 3: Know Your Set-Aside Eligibility

Set-aside programs are one of the most powerful advantages in government contracting. When a contract is "set aside," only businesses with that specific designation can compete. Instead of bidding against 200 companies, you might be competing against 15. Here are the major programs:

Small Business Set-Aside (SBA)

The most common designation. If your business meets the SBA size standard for your NAICS code (based on revenue or employee count), you qualify. Agencies are required to set aside contracts under $250,000 exclusively for small businesses when there are at least two qualified firms.

8(a) Business Development Program

A nine-year program for socially and economically disadvantaged small businesses. 8(a) firms can receive sole-source contracts up to $4.5 million (or $7 million for manufacturing). The application process is rigorous, but the competitive advantage is substantial.

Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB)

Available to businesses that are at least 51% owned and controlled by women. WOSB set-asides apply to specific NAICS codes where women-owned businesses are underrepresented. Self-certification is available through the SBA.

Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB)

For businesses owned by veterans with a service-connected disability. SDVOSB contracts have a government-wide goal of 3% of all federal spending. The VA has additional preferences for SDVOSB firms in their procurements.

HUBZone

The Historically Underutilized Business Zone program targets businesses located in economically distressed areas. If your principal office and at least 35% of your employees are in a HUBZone, you may qualify. HUBZone firms also receive a 10% price evaluation preference in full-and-open competitions.

If you qualify for any of these designations, get certified. The competitive advantage is significant — especially for 8(a) and SDVOSB firms, which can receive sole-source awards without any competitive bidding at all.

Step 4: Finding Contract Opportunities

With your SAM.gov registration active and your NAICS codes set, the next step is finding opportunities that match your business. This is where most small businesses struggle.

The primary source is SAM.gov's Contract Opportunities search (formerly FedBizOpps / FBO). Every federal contract above $25,000 must be posted here. The problem? On any given day, there are 30,000-50,000 active opportunities. Searching manually is like drinking from a fire hose.

You can filter by NAICS code, keyword, agency, and set-aside type. But the interface is clunky, results are noisy, and there's no scoring to tell you which opportunities actually fit your business well versus which merely share a keyword.

SAM.gov also offers email alerts, but they're keyword-based only. You set a keyword like "cybersecurity" and get every new posting that mentions it — regardless of NAICS code, set-aside type, or whether it's a $50,000 contract or a $500 million enterprise deal. For most users, the email alerts quickly become noise. (We wrote a detailed comparison of SAM.gov alerts vs. smart matching if you want to go deeper.)

The Problem With Manual Searching

Here's the reality: most small business owners who try government contracting don't fail because they can't do the work. They fail because they can't sustain the daily effort of finding opportunities.

A typical SAM.gov search session takes 45-90 minutes. You're scanning titles, reading descriptions, checking NAICS codes, verifying set-aside types, looking at deadlines. After an hour, you might find 2-3 opportunities worth pursuing — or none. Multiply that by five days a week, and you're spending 4-7 hours per week just searching for leads.

For a small business owner who is also the lead engineer, the project manager, and the accountant, that time doesn't exist. So the searching stops. Then the pipeline dries up. Then government contracting gets filed under "things we tried once."

The enterprise solutions (GovWin, Bloomberg Government, Deltek) solve this problem with sophisticated search and alert tools — but they cost $200-500+ per month and are designed for dedicated BD teams, not owner-operators.

How Automated Contract Alerts Solve Discovery Fatigue

The most effective approach for small businesses is automated matching that goes beyond keywords. Instead of you searching for contracts, the contracts come to you — filtered, scored, and explained.

Here's what good automated matching looks like:

• NAICS-based matching — filter opportunities by your registered NAICS codes, not just keywords that might appear in unrelated contexts.
• Set-aside awareness — surface opportunities that match your certifications (8(a), WOSB, SDVOSB, HUBZone) and deprioritize full-and-open competitions where you'll face large incumbents.
• Geographic relevance — if you only work in certain states, filter out opportunities with place-of-performance requirements you can't meet.
• Deadline tracking — automatically exclude expired opportunities and prioritize those with upcoming deadlines.
• Match scoring — rank each opportunity by how well it fits your specific profile, so you focus on the best leads first.

This is exactly what GovConToday does. Every morning, we scan SAM.gov for new opportunities, match them against your NAICS codes, set-aside preferences, and target states, then send you a clean email digest by 7 AM. Instead of spending an hour searching, you spend five minutes reviewing a curated list. Each opportunity includes the agency, title, deadline, and a clear explanation of why it matches your profile.

Key Takeaways

• The federal government awards $195+ billion to small businesses annually. Set-aside programs make it possible to compete even against larger firms.
• SAM.gov registration is free and required. Get it done, and set a reminder to renew annually.
• NAICS codes determine which opportunities you see. Pick 3-8 codes that cover your real capabilities.
• If you qualify for 8(a), WOSB, SDVOSB, or HUBZone, get certified. The competitive advantage is substantial.
• Manual SAM.gov searching is the #1 reason small businesses abandon government contracting. Automated, NAICS-based alerts turn an hour of daily searching into a 5-minute morning email review.