Help centre › Data and intelligence

Data sources and freshness

Which sources the tool reads and how, how current each opportunity is, what "manual check" means, and how to ask for a new source.

The tool collects opportunities once into a shared database and matches them against every company profile. Every opportunity links back to its original posting, which is always the authoritative version.

Where opportunities come from

Open Monitored Sources (/sources) for the live list: what each source covers, how it is read, how often, when it last worked and how many open opportunities it holds.

KindSourcesHow we read them
Federal contractsSAM.gov Contract OpportunitiesOfficial API, every morning
Federal grantsGrants.gov (Simpler.Grants.gov)Official API, every morning
SBIR and STTRDoD topics (DSIP); SBIR.gov solicitationsDSIP file imported by an administrator; SBIR.gov API paused while it refuses requests
Procurement forecastsGSA Acquisition Gateway (ten agencies), DHS APFS, Department of EnergyThe public data behind each agency's forecast page, daily (DOE weekly)
State bidsFlorida Vendor Bid System; Texas TxDOT highway lettingsFlorida's public bid search, daily; Texas open-data API, daily
Awards and agenciesUSAspending.gov; Federal Register agency listOfficial APIs, daily (agency lists weekly)
Your requestsSites other users asked for and an administrator approvedA feed, or a public listing page that the site permits us to read

Forecasts are planned buys, not solicitations. They show Expected instead of Respond by, carry no response deadline, and are scored as early-stage opportunities.

How fresh is it?

Every opportunity card and page has a line such as Verified 3 h ago on SAM.gov. It is the last time a scan found the opportunity at its source. Hover over it (or use a screen reader) for the exact time in Eastern time.

The same opportunity in two places

When two sources list the same opportunity (the same solicitation number, or the same title, agency and deadline day), the tool keeps one record and shows Also listed on with a link to the other. Matching, alerts and digests use the official federal record first (SAM.gov, then Grants.gov, then DSIP), so you are not alerted twice.

Manual check sources

Some sites cannot be read automatically, and the tool never tries:

They are listed under Manual check on Monitored Sources with a link. Open them yourself, signed in where you have an account.

Ask for a new source

  1. Open Monitored Sources and choose Request a source.
  2. Enter the address of the procurement page, for example a city's bid list, and say what it lists.
  3. The tool reads the site's robots.txt and looks for an API, an RSS or Atom feed, a sitemap or a public listing page, then tells you what it found. It never signs in or answers a CAPTCHA.
  4. An administrator reads the site's terms. If automated reading is allowed, the source is approved and scanned every morning for every customer. If not, it is listed as a manual check, or the request is declined with a reason. You see the outcome under Your requests.

You can send up to 10 requests a day.

What is not covered

If you know of a notice that should be here and is not, search for it in Discover by its solicitation number, then tell support with the number.

Still stuck?

Send a request to the Acidni support team, or email support@acidni.net.

Contact support