Live SAM.gov data on the homepage: how the Opportunity Radar works

The oldest problem in government contracting isn't writing proposals — it's knowing a set-aside existed before it closed. BidMast attacks that first: the homepage runs on real SAM.gov data, served to every visitor, whether or not they've created an account.

The Opportunity Radar

Under the site's navigation sits the Opportunity Radar with three tabs — New today · Watching · Strong fit — each with a live counter. When SAM.gov's API is reachable, the radar pulls real federal solicitations and shows them to everyone. A "SAM.gov · live" chip confirms what you're looking at, and the sources strip at the bottom of the page lists it plainly: SAM.gov — LIVE.

Signed-in users with a completed profile get the matched view: each live opportunity is rated against their NAICS codes, set-aside certifications, and bond ceiling. Watching shows the opportunities they've starred, and Strong fit shows the ones where all three signals match. The same live wall powers the full Opportunities page, so even a signed-out visitor browsing there sees real solicitations — the free tier is about live data, not a teaser of it.

The honest fallback

The federal API has a daily quota, and sometimes it's exhausted or unreachable. When that happens the radar swaps to a Sample showcase card — and it says so right on the card: "Sample card — shown only when live data is unavailable." The site never passes sample rows off as real. The cache is tuned to make that rare: live results are cached for an hour so repeat views don't burn the quota, and failed fetches are cached for only 15 minutes so the radar recovers quickly once the quota resets.

State and local: a verified directory, honestly labeled

State and local agencies post work on their own portals, and — as of this writing — there is no free, keyless feed that aggregates them. BidMast doesn't pretend otherwise. Instead the Opportunities page carries a verified directory of official portals — California's Cal eProcure, Texas's TXSmartBuy, Virginia's eVA, New York's Contract Reporter, and more, plus GSA eBuy for task orders — each entry pointing to the official search. The sources strip labels it exactly what it is: VERIFIED DIRECTORY. A directory isn't a live feed, and the site doesn't claim it is.