How to Set Up SAM.gov Saved Searches and Email Alerts (and Fix Them When They Stop)

To get email alerts from SAM.gov, sign in, run a Contract Opportunities search, save it, and then turn on "Notify" for that saved search. Saving a search doesn't send you any email by itself, and that missing step is a common reason alerts never arrive. All you need is a free SAM.gov user account through Login.gov. You don't need to register your business first.

Do you need a SAM.gov account to get alerts?

You need a user account, which is free and takes a few minutes. You don't need an entity registration, which is the longer process that gets your business a Unique Entity ID (UEI) and lets you win contracts. The Federal Service Desk (FSD), SAM.gov's help desk, says "Anyone can create a user account on SAM.gov." You sign in through Login.gov.

You'll need an entity registration before you can win a contract, so it's worth starting early. See how to register on SAM.gov. But don't wait for it to start watching for work.

How to create a SAM.gov saved search

These steps follow FSD's own instructions, current as of October 2026.

1. Sign in to SAM.gov. You must be signed in to save a search.
2. Start a Contract Opportunities search. Select "Search" in the header, or the "Contract Opportunities" link on the home page. Make sure the search domain is Contract Opportunities, not the combined "Contracting" domain (more on that below).
3. Set your filters in the panel on the left. The most useful ones are:
   • Product or Service Information: your NAICS codes and product service codes (PSC). See how to choose NAICS codes.
   • Set Aside: for example, total small business, SDVOSB or WOSB.
   • Place of Performance: your state, or the states you can reach.
   • Notice Type: solicitations, combined synopsis/solicitations, sources sought and presolicitations.
   • Status: Active, so you see open notices.
   • Keyword Search: with the choice of "Any Words," "All Words" or "Exact Phrase."
4. Save it. Select the "Actions" menu above the results, then "Save." Give the search a name you'll recognize, and select "Save."

Your saved searches are listed under "Saved Searches," either above your search results or in your Workspace, under your Profile.

To change a saved search, open it by selecting its title, adjust the filters, then use "Actions" and "Save" to overwrite it, or "Save As" to keep both versions.

How to turn on email alerts for a saved search

This is the step people miss. A saved search sends email only when you turn on Notify.

1. Go to Saved Searches, from the top of the search results page or from your Workspace.
2. If you have many, filter the list to show only contract opportunities saved searches.
3. Select the Actions button next to the saved search's title.
4. Select Notify.

From then on, FSD says, "When a new contract opportunity matches your saved search with notifications enabled, you will receive an email with a link to your saved search." The email takes you to the search results, not to each notice, so you'll click through to see what's new.

To stop the emails, open Saved Searches, select the Actions menu for that search, and choose Stop Notify.

How often do the emails come? SAM.gov doesn't publish a schedule for saved-search emails. Users generally report about one email a day, on days when there's something new. Since many notices give only about two weeks to respond, check your alerts every day. (Our response time report found that the median solicitation in FY2026 gave 12.8 days.)

How to follow a notice and get updates

A saved search tells you about new notices. To hear about changes to one notice, such as amendments, a new due date or an award, follow it.

1. Sign in, find the notice, and open it.
2. Select Follow in the upper right corner of the notice page.
3. To see everything you follow, go to your Workspace and select Followed Records.

In Followed Records, you can set how often you get emails for each notice with the Email Frequency dropdown, or select Unfollow.

Two things to know about Follow emails:

• "Updates" aren't always amendments. FSD says "Most opportunity revisions are clarifications, corrections, or simply system updates." Open the notice and check its history to see what changed.
• Your Workspace settings win. If you change your Email Settings in your Workspace, "it will override any changes made to followed records." For example, if you set one notice to daily and then set your general email setting to weekly, that notice switches to weekly too.

You can follow more than notices: entity records, exclusions, assistance listings, wage determinations and federal hierarchy records too.

Saved search, Follow and Interested Vendors List: what's the difference?

The Interested Vendors List isn't an alert. It's a list the contracting officer can turn on for a notice, "to collect a list of vendors interested in competing for the opportunity or vendors interested in subcontracting opportunities." If the officer lets vendors view it, other companies can see your entity details, which makes it a useful way to find teaming partners. See how to become a government subcontractor.

Why SAM.gov alerts stop working, and how to fix them

Work down this list, starting at the top.

A few notes on these:

• Spam filters. FSD names donotreply@sam.gov as the address SAM.gov uses for one-time sign-in codes, and warns that company and custom-domain email systems often block or quarantine automated mail. It doesn't say outright that saved-search alerts use the same address, but allowing it is a sensible first step. Ask your IT staff to check for blocks, quarantines or intentional delays.
• Email settings for follows. Changing a domain's default to "none" means you won't get notifications for notices you follow later, unless you change the setting for each one.
• Date filters. If your saved search includes a fixed date range, it may stop finding new notices once those dates pass. SAM.gov doesn't document how saved date filters behave, so it's safest to leave dates out of a saved search and filter by Status (Active) instead.
• Inactivity is not the problem. FSD says "Your SAM.gov account will not be disabled for lack of use." You'll be signed out after 15 minutes of inactivity in a session, but your account and saved searches stay.

If none of this works, open a ticket with the Federal Service Desk. It's free.

Tips for saved searches that find the right work

• Filter by codes, not just keywords. SAM.gov's keyword search runs against a notice's fields. FSD doesn't say whether it reads the text inside attached PDFs, and many notices just say "see attached." NAICS and PSC filters catch notices that keywords miss.
• Use several narrow searches instead of one wide one. For example, one search for your main NAICS code in your state, one for sources sought notices nationwide, and one for a key agency. Name each clearly.
• Save a sources sought search. Sources sought notices shape whether work gets set aside for small businesses, and they usually close in about a week and a half.
• Download attachments when you first see a notice. Since August 2026, SAM.gov says "Deleted attachments are no longer downloadable from an opportunity's version history."
• Read the notice, not just the email. Check the due date, the set-aside and the latest amendment before you decide to bid. See how to read a government solicitation.

Other ways to get contract alerts

SAM.gov's alerts are free and come straight from the source. You don't need to pay anyone for them. Some people add a second tool for different filters or formatting.

• FedReady. FedReady's free search is built from SAM.gov data and updated daily. A free account includes a saved search with daily or weekly email alerts, plus matches for your business profile. On an open notice's page, you can also enter your email under "Track this notice by email," with no account, and confirm it to get an email when the notice is amended or awarded and before it's due.
• SAM.gov data files and API. For technical users, SAM.gov publishes data files of contract notices and a public API, which needs a free API key. GSA says active notices are updated daily.

Next steps

• Learn where else to look and how to judge a notice in how to find government contracts.
• Prepare for the most common early notice in sources sought notices.
• Get a clear picture of the site itself in what is SAM.gov.

This guide is general information, not legal or financial advice. Rules and thresholds change, so confirm details on SAM.gov and the official agency sites linked above before you act. FedReady is an independent company and is not affiliated with any government agency.