Mcp Sam Gov

@cliwant/mcp-sam-gov

$4 trillion of public federal data, one npm install away.

The most comprehensive keyless-first MCP server for US federal and state/local (SLED) contracting + spending + regulation + partner vetting. 150 tools across 52 data sources — keyless-first: only 4 sources (Census business-patterns, FRED, BEA, and DOL's data endpoint) need a free key; the other 48 need none. Works today, in any AI agent.

[](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@cliwant/mcp-sam-gov) [](https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io/v0/servers?search=cliwant) [](https://glama.ai/mcp/servers/cliwant/mcp-sam-gov) [](./LICENSE) [](https://github.com/cliwant/mcp-sam-gov/actions/workflows/daily-smoke.yml)

[English](./README.md) · [한국어](./README.ko.md) · [日本語](./README.ja.md)

---

See it in action

👤  user        Find active SAM.gov solicitations under NAICS 541512 closing this month
                                                                                          
🤖  Claude     → sam_search_opportunities { ncode: "541512", limit: 5 }                  
✓  47,478 active opportunities indexed                                                  
                                                                                          
   • 5ef3db5d…  VA Bulk Oxygen Tank Rental         closes 2026-05-15  ($1.05M)         
   • a000339c…  Articulating Boom Lifts             closes 2026-05-30  ($310K)          
   • be9c24ef…  CMOP Hazardous Waste Removal        closes 2026-06-12  ($2.7M)          

👤  user        Pull the SOW + contracting officer for the first one
                                                                                          
🤖  Claude     → sam_get_opportunity { noticeId: "5ef3db5d…" }                          
✓  Department of Veterans Affairs · Combined Synopsis/Solicitation                       
   POC:           Rebecca Gobble    +1-410-642-2411                 
   Set-aside:     Total Small Business                                                    
   Attachments:   1   ↓ 36C24526Q0460_1.docx (172 KB)                                     
   SOW preview:   "RFQ# 36C24526Q0460 — Bulk Oxygen Tank Rental, Fill, Telemetry…"        

Zero API key. Zero registration. Zero signup. Just plug it in and ask.

---

Why this exists

| Status quo | With this MCP | |---|---| | GovWin: $30K-$100K/yr per seat | Free, MIT license | | API key registration → wait 24h → quota tier shopping | npm install → working in 60s | | 5+ separate vendor APIs / scrapers | 1 unified surface, 150 tools across 52 sources | | LLMs hallucinate NAICS codes / agency names | Anti-hallucination autocomplete guards built-in | | Brittle scraping breaks weekly | Daily live smoke test ([badge above](#)) | | Procurement officer → IT ticket → 3-week wait | Claude Desktop double-click install |

The federal data this wraps is public domain. There is no good reason it should cost a five-figure subscription to query.

---

What this gives Claude (and other AI agents)

| Domain | What you can ask | Sources | |---|---|---| | 🔍 Opportunities & solicitations | "Find SAM.gov solicitations under NAICS 541512 closing this month" — read the SOW, POCs, attachments | SAM.gov, Grants.gov | | 💰 Spending, awards & competition | "Show me Booz Allen wins at VA last fiscal year; top 10 PSC categories at DoD" | USAspending, FPDS, GAO | | 🕵️ Entity & partner vetting | "Screen this firm: OFAC sanctions, SAM exclusions, single-audit findings, bank health, EPA compliance + toxics-release" | OFAC, SAM, FAC, FDIC, EPA ECHO, EPA Envirofacts | | 🛒 Product safety & recalls | "Any FDA/NHTSA/CPSC recalls or enforcement against this supplier's products?" | openFDA, NHTSA, CPSC | | ⚖️ Litigation & courts | "Any Court of Federal Claims bid protests or Federal Circuit opinions involving this contractor?" | CourtListener (Free Law Project) | | 🏢 Nonprofit vendors | "Pull this nonprofit's IRS-990 financials before we subcontract to it" | IRS 990 (via ProPublica) | | 🏥 Healthcare providers & facilities | "Medicare utilization & payments for this provider; hospital quality ratings; is this provider on the revocation list?" | CMS (data.cms.gov) | | 📈 Financial disclosure (SEC) | "Pull this public company's revenue trend and latest 10-K filings" | SEC EDGAR | | ⚖️ Regulatory & legislative | "What VA cybersecurity rules were published this quarter? Any open Regulations.gov dockets?" | Federal Register, Regulations.gov, eCFR, FAR/DFARS, Congress.gov, GovInfo | | 💲 Pricing, labor & fiscal | "GSA CALC labor-rate band for a systems analyst; SCA wage determination for this county; CPI escalation; per-diem cap for a trip; regional GDP by industry; DOL wage-hour enforcement history" | GSA CALC, SAM WDs, BLS, US Census CBP, FRED, BEA, US Treasury, GSA per-diem, US DOL | | 🏛 Lobbying & influence | "Who lobbies the VA on cybersecurity, and how much do they spend?" | US Senate LDA | | 🏥 Health & research funding | "NIH/NSF grants on this topic; recruiting clinical trials; industry payments to this physician" | NIH RePORTER, NSF, ClinicalTrials.gov, CMS Open Payments, NPPES | | 🛡 Cyber compliance | "Is this CVE on the CISA KEV must-patch list?" | NVD, CISA KEV | | 🌐 Trade, geo & disaster | "HTS tariff for this product; Census tract for this address; FEMA declarations in this state" | USITC HTS, US Census, FEMA, Socrata, CKAN | | 🏙 State/local procurement bids (SLED) | "What's open on this city's/county's procurement portal right now? Their checkbook, awarded contracts, vendor payments; state DOT bid/award registers" | OpenGov Procurement (525+ govs), Bonfire, ArcGIS (feature + Hub), Socrata (53 hosts) | | 🎓 Grants & datasets | "Cybersecurity grants posted in the last 30 days; discover federal open datasets" | Grants.gov, data.gov |

150 tools across 52 data sources — keyless-first: only 4 sources (Census business-patterns, FRED, BEA, and DOL's data endpoint) need a free key; the other 48 need none. (An earlier 52-tool build measured roughly p50 ~0.25s / p95 ~0.8s against production federal APIs; latency varies by source and upstream load — treat it as fast, not a benchmarked guarantee.)

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How do I install it? Pick the path that matches you.

🟢 Path 1 — Claude Desktop, one-click (no terminal needed)

Best for non-developers. Just download a file and double-click.

1. Download mcp-sam-gov.mcpb from the latest release.
2. Double-click the file. Claude Desktop opens with an "Install Extension" dialog.
3. Click Install.
4. Done. Start a new conversation and ask "Find active SAM.gov opportunities under NAICS 541512".

That's it. No PowerShell, no npm, nothing.

> Requires Claude Desktop ≥ 1.0 (which ships its own Node.js runtime).

🟡 Path 2 — Claude Code, one command

If you already use Claude Code (the CLI):

/plugin install cliwant/mcp-sam-gov

This installs the MCP server plus a [SKILL.md](./skills/sam-gov/SKILL.md) workflow guide that teaches Claude when + how to use each of the 150 tools.

🔵 Path 3 — Manual install for any MCP host (Codex, Cursor, Continue, Gemini)

For Codex CLI / Cursor / Continue / Gemini CLI / anything that speaks MCP:

gh repo clone cliwant/mcp-sam-gov
cd mcp-sam-gov
npm install --omit=dev
npm install -g .

After install, the binary mcp-sam-gov is on your PATH. Add this to your host config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sam-gov": {
      "command": "mcp-sam-gov"
    }
  }
}

Specific config locations per host: see [Host configurations](#host-configurations) below.

⚪ Path 4 — Direct path (zero install, just point at the file)

Skip installation entirely:

gh repo clone cliwant/mcp-sam-gov
cd mcp-sam-gov
npm install --omit=dev   # only runtime deps; dist/ is pre-built

Then point your host config at the absolute path:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sam-gov": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["C:\\Users\\you\\mcp-sam-gov\\dist\\server.js"]
    }
  }
}

---

Host configurations

Claude Desktop

%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows) or ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sam-gov": { "command": "mcp-sam-gov" }
  }
}

(Or skip this entirely — use Path 1's .mcpb and it auto-configures.)

Restart Claude Desktop fully (system tray quit on Windows / Quit menu on macOS), then look for the 🔨 icon. You should see "sam-gov (150 tools)".

Claude Code

Per-project .mcp.json:

{ "mcpServers": { "sam-gov": { "command": "mcp-sam-gov" } } }

Or globally:

claude mcp add sam-gov mcp-sam-gov

Codex CLI

~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.sam-gov]
command = "mcp-sam-gov"
args = []

Cursor

Settings → MCP → Add new MCP server:

{ "mcpServers": { "sam-gov": { "command": "mcp-sam-gov" } } }

Continue

~/.continue/config.json:

{
  "experimental": {
    "modelContextProtocolServer": {
      "transport": { "type": "stdio", "command": "mcp-sam-gov" }
    }
  }
}

Gemini CLI

~/.gemini/settings.json:

{ "mcpServers": { "sam-gov": { "command": "mcp-sam-gov" } } }

Anything else

If your host speaks MCP over stdio, point it at mcp-sam-gov. No host-specific code.

---

What questions can I ask?

Once installed, you can ask in natural language. The agent picks the right tool sequence automatically.

Discovery

• "NAICS 541512 의 메릴랜드 입찰 중 30일 안에 마감되는 것 찾아줘"
• "Find active SAM.gov solicitations under NAICS 541512, MD only, closing in 30 days"
• "What's the canonical NAICS code for 'computer systems design'?"

RFP analysis

• "Pull noticeId 5ef3db5daeb54099a96d487783a38bd0 — give me the SOW, contracting officer, and attachments"
• "Show me the full RFP body for that notice"

Competitive landscape

• "Top 5 recipients of VA contracts in NAICS 541519 last fiscal year"
• "Show me Booz Allen's individual awards at DISA"
• "Who are the sub-contractors on Leidos' VA contracts?"
• "What's CMS in USAspending? (resolve the abbreviation)"

Trends & aggregation

• "How has VA 541512 spending trended over the last 5 fiscal years?"
• "Top 10 states by federal contracting spend in 541512"
• "Top PSC categories at DoD by spending"
• "Federal grant programs in cybersecurity by total $"

Agency intelligence (capture brief)

• "Give me a capture brief on VA: mission, FY26 budget breakdown, top sub-agencies"
• "What's VA's transaction volume for FY25?"

Recompete radar

• "VA 541512 contracts expiring in next 12 months over $1M"
• "Pull period of performance for award CONTAWD..."

Regulatory & legislative

• "Find FAR sections about SDVOSB set-aside requirements"
• "Turn this RFP's cited FAR/DFARS clause list into a Section L/M compliance matrix"
• "What new VA cybersecurity rules were published this quarter?"
• "Any Federal Register documents on the public-inspection desk from DoD today?"
• "Search Regulations.gov dockets on 'contractor cybersecurity' and pull the public comments"
• "Discover federal open datasets about 'wildfire' on data.gov"
• "Is there a Federal Register doc number 2026-08333? Pull the citation."

Partner & entity vetting

• "Screen 'Acme Defense LLC' against the OFAC sanctions list and SAM exclusions"
• "Look up NPI 1234567890 in NPPES — is this provider active?"
• "Does this subcontractor have adverse Single Audit findings in the Federal Audit Clearinghouse?"
• "How healthy is the bank on cert #3510 — risk ratios and quarterly financials?"
• "Pull this public company's revenue trend and latest 10-K from SEC EDGAR"
• "Any EPA compliance/enforcement flags for this facility?"

Compliance & eligibility

• "What's the SBA small-business size standard for NAICS 541512?"
• "Search the eCFR for the exact text of a rule"
• "What's the US import duty rate (HTS) for lithium-ion batteries?"

Pricing, labor & fiscal

• "GSA CALC ceiling-rate band for a senior systems analyst"
• "Find the SCA wage determination for Baltimore County, MD and give me the fringe rates"
• "How much has CPI-U risen over the last 3 years for an escalation clause?"
• "What's the current total US public debt (Debt to the Penny)?"

Cyber

• "Is CVE-2021-44228 (Log4Shell) on the CISA KEV must-patch list, and what's the due date?"

Health & research funding

• "NIH RePORTER projects on mRNA vaccines funded last year"
• "Recruiting clinical trials for diabetes sponsored by industry"
• "Industry payments to physicians in CA from the CMS Open Payments Research dataset"

Grants

• "Cybersecurity grants posted in the last 30 days"
• "Pull grant id 361238"

---

Optional — higher rate limits + archives

The MCP server runs keyless by default. For higher SAM.gov rate limits + the full archive (notices older than ~12 months), set SAM_GOV_API_KEY in your host's env block:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sam-gov": {
      "command": "mcp-sam-gov",
      "env": { "SAM_GOV_API_KEY": "your-key-here" }
    }
  }
}

Get a free key at sam.gov/SAM/pages/public/searchKeyData.jsf. The agent doesn't need to know — the key path is transparent.

DATA_GOV_API_KEY — the api.data.gov / api.gsa.gov family

A handful of sources ride the shared api.data.gov gateway — Congress.gov, GovInfo, Regulations.gov, FAC, NPPES, and the data.gov v4 dataset catalog. They work keyless out of the box via the public DEMO_KEY (a low shared hourly quota). Set DATA_GOV_API_KEY to raise those limits substantially:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sam-gov": {
      "command": "mcp-sam-gov",
      "env": { "DATA_GOV_API_KEY": "your-key-here" }
    }
  }
}

Get one free (instant, no wait) at api.data.gov/signup. The same key is accepted across all api.data.gov / api.gsa.gov sources. Like the SAM key, it is sent only on the wire (never logged); unset simply means DEMO_KEY. BLS sources similarly accept an optional free BLS_API_KEY to lift their daily quota.

Keys & higher limits — the full inventory

Most tools are keyless. Four sources require a free key — Census (census_business_patterns), FRED (fred_search_series, fred_series_observations), BEA (bea_regional_data), and DOL's data endpoint (dol_get_dataset) — those sources have no keyless tier, so the tool throws without one. (DOL's catalog dol_list_datasets is keyless.) The other keys are optional: they only raise a rate limit or unlock a single filter. Every key below is free.

| Env var | Required? | What it unlocks | Free signup | |---|---|---|---| | CENSUS_API_KEY | Required | census_business_patterns (no keyless tier — throws without it) | api.census.gov/data/keysignup.html | | FRED_API_KEY | Required | the 2 FRED tools (no keyless tier — throw without it) | fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/apikey.html | | BEA_API_KEY | Required | bea_regional_data (BEA Regional; no keyless tier — throws without it) | apps.bea.gov/API/signup | | DOL_API_KEY | Required for data | dol_get_dataset (DOL enforcement records via X-API-KEY; the dol_list_datasets catalog is keyless) | dol.gov/developer | | DATA_GOV_API_KEY | Optional | higher limits on all api.data.gov sources (Regulations.gov, FAC, NPPES, CMS, data.gov catalog, GSA per-diem) — lifts the shared DEMO_KEY cap | api.data.gov/signup | | SAM_GOV_API_KEY | Optional | authenticated SAM.gov v2 search + the organization-name filter | open.gsa.gov/api/get-opportunities-public-api | | `LD

…

Source & license

This open-source MCP server is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: cliwant
• Source: cliwant/mcp-sam-gov
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://cliwant.github.io/mcp-sam-gov/

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.