Set up before you bid
The first trap is administrative, and it catches firms that are otherwise ready. In the US, your firm needs an active SAM.gov entity registration before a federal award — and some solicitations expect it earlier. Registration takes longer than firms expect, so start it when you start watching the market, not when a deadline appears. The same discipline applies in the other markets Bidwise covers — CanadaBuys in Canada, TED in the EU, AusTender in Australia: know what each portal requires of you before a tender you want is already counting down. The full statement of what each source carries, and excludes, is on the coverage page.
Watch the market for free
None of the watching needs to cost anything. The Tender Explorer searches the current index of the four official sources — SAM.gov for US federal work — with filters, saved tenders and a deadline calendar, and whether a tender is open is computed from its closing date when you view it. The Monday Brief is a free weekly shortlist of the tracked set, and the closing-soon page shows what expires in the next 14 days. For who already holds the work you want, award and recompete intelligence shows incumbents and expiry dates from public award records.
Screen hard before you spend
Bid on fewer, better-fitting tenders — that is the whole economics of small-firm federal work. One wasted proposal costs more than every screening step on this page combined. The free screen comes first: the Fit Score and Bid / No-Bid Calculator structure the decision from your own facts, and Notice Preflight verifies the deadline against the official notice. When a tender survives that screen and the pursuit is real, the compliance matrix + bid/no-bid review ($149) reads the documents themselves — one solicitation, up to 60 requirements, 50 source pages and 3 amendments, one clarification round, delivered within two business days of completed intake — and the full $149 is credited toward a full proposal package on the same tender within 14 days. How that decision is structured is set out in bid/no-bid analysis. And why the discipline matters: why small firms lose tenders they could win.
Stay in the flow without a bid department
Watching weekly is free; watching daily is Bidwise Pro — a daily tender digest filtered to your sectors and regions, at $39/month on the founding rate through 30 November 2026, then $49/month ($390 / $490 annual), paid by Payoneer and never auto-charged. The data store's research workbooks are $49 each, and the All-Access bundle at $149 covers the workbooks and their refreshes — workbooks only; it does not include Pro. When the volume outgrows screening, the step up is a managed bid pipeline — full proposal packages from $950, or an outsourced bid department from $2,000 a month.
The honest limits
A listing is a discovery aid, not a guarantee of eligibility, completeness or outcome; deadlines and requirements live on the official notice, and every listing links to it. A review is decision support, not legal or eligibility advice. Bidwise charges published flat prices, ordered and delivered by email, with no sales calls — and never a success fee or a percentage of an award.