mcp-sam-gov - US Government Contracting MCP¶

152 tools across 54 data sources for US federal + state/local (SLED) government contracting. First MCP server purpose-built for the $750B+ US government procurement market. Keyless-first - 147 of the 152 tools need no API key; the remaining 5 (Census business patterns, FRED, BEA, DOL data endpoint) take a free key.

What It Does for Operators¶

If your business bids on government contracts, seeks grant funding, vets partners against sanctions lists, or monitors regulatory changes - this server gives your AI agents direct access to the primary sources:

SAM.gov - Search active federal contract opportunities, notice detail and attachments, exclusion/integrity screening, wage determinations
USAspending.gov - Track federal spending by agency, recipient, and contract
Grants.gov - Find and monitor federal grant opportunities
OFAC SDN - Screen entities against US sanctions lists
FDIC - BankFind, financial institution data
EPA - ECHO facility compliance/enforcement, TRI facilities
CourtListener - Federal court opinions (case law), via the Free Law Project's public API
47 additional sources covering all major government data domains

Installation¶

npx -y @cliwant/mcp-sam-gov

Or clone and run locally:

git clone https://github.com/cliwant/mcp-sam-gov.git
cd mcp-sam-gov
npm install
npm run build

Claude Desktop / Hermes Config¶

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sam-gov": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@cliwant/mcp-sam-gov"]
    }
  }
}

No environment variables or API keys are needed for 147 of the 152 tools. A few sources accept an optional free key that only raises rate limits; the api_key_status tool reports which keys are required, optional, or currently configured.

Key Tools¶

Tool	Source	Use Case
`sam_search_opportunities`	SAM.gov	Search active federal contracting opportunities; narrow by NAICS, agency, set-aside, state
`sam_check_exclusions`	SAM.gov	Screen a firm or individual by name, UEI, or CAGE against the SAM exclusions (debarment) index
`usas_search_individual_awards`	USAspending.gov	Line-item federal contracts with recipient, dollars, sub-agency, state, and description
`grants_search`	Grants.gov	Search federal grant opportunities by keyword, CFDA, agency, or opportunity number (forecasted + posted by default)
`ofac_screen_entity`	OFAC SDN	Screen a name against the OFAC SDN and Consolidated sanctions lists, including AKAs
`fdic_search_institutions`	FDIC	Search the FDIC-insured institution directory (BankFind) by name, city, state, or CERT
`courtlistener_search_opinions`	CourtListener	Full-text search of US federal court opinions (case law)
`echo_search_facilities`	EPA ECHO	Search EPA-regulated facilities by state with compliance and enforcement screening fields

Operator Use Cases¶

GovCon BD Teams - Set up an AI agent to scan SAM.gov daily for RFPs matching your NAICS codes. Get Slack/email alerts for new opportunities.
Compliance Officers - Automate OFAC sanctions screening against vendor lists. Run batch checks from any MCP client.
Grant Writers - Monitor Grants.gov for funding opportunities. Pull full solicitation text and eligibility requirements into your AI workflow.
Partner Due Diligence - Cross-reference a company name against SAM.gov exclusions, OFAC SDN, and CourtListener in one query.
Competitive Intelligence - Track which competitors are winning federal contracts. Map agency spend patterns.

Honesty-Hardened¶

The server includes "honesty-hardened" design: when data is unavailable or a query returns no results, it reports that explicitly rather than hallucinating. All responses cite the source agency.

Integration with CorpusIQ¶

Complementary to CorpusIQ's business data connectors. While CorpusIQ provides financial/operational data from platforms like QuickBooks and Stripe, mcp-sam-gov provides the government contracting layer - procurement opportunities, compliance screening, and regulatory intelligence. Operators in government contracting can use both together: CorpusIQ for business operations, mcp-sam-gov for the federal sales pipeline.

Limitations¶

US-focused (federal + state/local). No international government procurement.
Keyless = public data only. No authenticated access to contractor portals.
Early-stage project (4⭐). API stability not guaranteed.
Rate limits on some .gov endpoints (varies by agency).