mcp-sam-gov

<div align="center">

# @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.

[![npm](https://img.shields.io/npm/v/@cliwant/mcp-sam-gov?color=cb3837&label=%40cliwant%2Fmcp-sam-gov&logo=npm)](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@cliwant/mcp-sam-gov)
[![mcp-registry](https://img.shields.io/badge/MCP%20Registry-active-2ea44f?logo=anthropic)](https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io/v0/servers?search=cliwant)
[![Glama score](https://glama.ai/mcp/servers/cliwant/mcp-sam-gov/badges/score.svg)](https://glama.ai/mcp/servers/cliwant/mcp-sam-gov)
[![License: MIT](https://img.shields.io/badge/license-MIT-blue.svg)](./LICENSE)
[![Daily smoke](https://github.com/cliwant/mcp-sam-gov/actions/workflows/daily-smoke.yml/badge.svg)](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)

</div>

---

## See it in action

```text
👤  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  <rebecca.gobble@va.gov>  +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.)

---

## 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](https://github.com/cliwant/mcp-sam-gov/releases/latest).
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):

```bash
/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:

```bash
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:

```json
{
  "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:

```bash
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:

```jsonc
{
  "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):

```json
{
  "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`:

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

Or globally:

```bash
claude mcp add sam-gov mcp-sam-gov
```

### Codex CLI

`~/.codex/config.toml`:

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

### Cursor

Settings → MCP → Add new MCP server:

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

### Continue

`~/.continue/config.json`:

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

### Gemini CLI

`~/.gemini/settings.json`:

```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