> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.civiccontracts.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Data sources

> Where Civic AI government contract data comes from — SAM.gov, USAspending, state procurement portals, and local bid boards.

Civic AI aggregates public procurement data from federal systems and state/local portals. This page describes the major source categories and how we use them.

## Federal sources

| Source                     | Data type                                         | Update cadence |
| -------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------- | -------------- |
| **SAM.gov**                | Active solicitations, entity registration context | Daily          |
| **USAspending.gov**        | Federal contract and grant awards                 | Daily          |
| **FPDS** (via USAspending) | Historical federal procurement transactions       | Daily          |

Federal solicitations on SAM.gov are the system of record for most prime federal opportunities. USAspending provides authoritative award and obligation data for competitive research.

## State and local sources

State, local, education, and special-district procurement is published across hundreds of portals. Civic AI runs dedicated ingestion pipelines for many of these systems, including:

* Statewide eProcurement platforms
* City and county bid boards
* Public utility and transit agency posting sites
* Cooperative purchasing networks
* Public notice aggregators (where used as primary sources)

Coverage expands as new pipelines ship. Portals differ in fields available — some publish full RFP PDFs, others only title and deadline.

## What Civic AI adds

Raw portal data is hard to search consistently. Civic AI normalizes records so you can:

* Search across sources in **plain English**
* See **deadlines, agencies, and set-asides** on unified result cards
* Link back to the **official posting** for submission
* Connect solicitations to **award history** for the same buyers and vendors

## Open data access

Developers can access public procurement data through our open-source client:

<Card title="civiccontracts-data on GitHub" icon="github" href="https://github.com/puremetall/civiccontracts-data">
  Python and TypeScript client for Civic AI open data APIs.
</Card>

See [API overview](/api/overview) for product API documentation as endpoints become available.

## Accuracy and limitations

<Warning>
  Always verify final requirements on the official source before bidding. Civic AI reflects public data as published; amendments, cancellations, and corrections may lag the portal by hours.
</Warning>

* **Not legal advice** — eligibility, set-asides, and compliance require your own review
* **Incomplete fields** — some local portals publish minimal metadata
* **Subcontract data** — prime awards are well covered; sub-tier visibility varies

## Related pages

* [Federal contracts](/find-opportunities/federal-contracts)
* [State and local contracts](/find-opportunities/state-local-contracts)
* [FAQ](/reference/faq)