> ## 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.

# FAQ

> Frequently asked questions about Civic AI — search coverage, alerts, pricing, data sources, and getting started with government contract discovery.

## Getting started

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="What is Civic AI?">
    Civic AI is an AI-powered procurement intelligence platform. Search open federal, state, and local solicitations in plain English, explore contract awards for competitive intel, and manage pursuits with alerts and pipeline tools. [Start searching](https://www.civiccontracts.com/search).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Is Civic AI the same as SAM.gov?">
    No. SAM.gov is the official federal system of record for solicitations and entity registration. Civic AI aggregates SAM.gov plus many state/local sources and adds plain-English search, alerts, and intelligence features.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Do I need a SAM.gov registration to use Civic AI?">
    No — you can search and research without SAM registration. You **do** need an active SAM.gov registration and UEI before bidding on federal prime contracts.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Search and coverage

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Which data sources does Civic AI include?">
    Federal solicitations (SAM.gov), federal awards (USAspending), and many state/local procurement portals. See [Data sources](/reference/data-sources) for details.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I search state and local contracts?">
    Yes. Civic AI indexes opportunities from many state, city, county, education, and transit portals — not just federal SAM.gov. See [State and local contracts](/find-opportunities/state-local-contracts).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="How current is the data?">
    Federal and major portal feeds update daily. Always confirm deadlines and amendments on the official source portal before submitting a bid.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Alerts and pipeline

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="How do contract alerts work?">
    Save a search, enable email notifications, and Civic AI alerts you when new matching opportunities are indexed. See [Saved searches and alerts](/saved-searches-and-alerts).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I track pursuits in Civic AI?">
    Yes. Add qualified opportunities to your [Pipeline](/pursuits/pipeline) to track stages, owners, and deadlines.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Pricing and account

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="How much does Civic AI cost?">
    See [Pricing](https://www.civiccontracts.com/pricing) for current plans. A free tier may be available for basic search — check the pricing page for the latest.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can my team share an account?">
    Organization and team features depend on your plan. Manage seats from Settings in the app dashboard.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Developers and open source

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Is there an API?">
    Civic AI offers API access for programmatic search and data export on eligible plans. See [API overview](/api/overview) and the [open data client](https://github.com/puremetall/civiccontracts-data).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Where is the open-source code?">
    Public repos live under [github.com/puremetall](https://github.com/puremetall), including [civiccontracts-data](https://github.com/puremetall/civiccontracts-data) and [awesome-government-contracting](https://github.com/puremetall/awesome-government-contracting).
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Support

Questions not covered here? Email **[contact@civiccontracts.com](mailto:contact@civiccontracts.com)** or use in-app chat when available.

## Related pages

* [Introduction](/index)
* [Search basics](/search-basics)
* [Data sources](/reference/data-sources)