Bid alert service for contractors
Government bid alerts,
one 7am Eastern email a day.
What the alerts do, what they filter on, and what they cost. Last updated 2026-09-22.
BidRanger's bid alert service emails contractors the new public construction bids that match their saved searches — states, categories and keywords — once a day at 7am Eastern. Nothing is sent twice, and nothing is sent on a day with no new matches. Browsing is free; alerts cost $19.99/month for one state or $49.99/month for all 48 states.
From saved search to inbox, in four steps
Pick your states
One state on Solo, any of the 48 on All-Access. Wherever you actually bid.
Pick categories and keywords
Construction, Services, Equipment & Supply, plus a comma-separated keyword list for your trade or your usual agencies.
BidRanger checks every source each morning
Federal SAM.gov, state agencies and hundreds of city, county and district portals, refreshed every 24 hours.
One email at 7am Eastern
Only the new matches, grouped by category, soonest closing first, each linked to the original posting. No matches, no email.
What can a bid alert filter on?
| Filter | Alerts | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| States | Yes | Solo covers the one state on your plan; All-Access lets each search pick any of the 48 states. |
| Categories | Yes | Construction, Services, Equipment & Supply — pick any mix. Mowing, grounds maintenance and similar contracts are filed under Services. |
| Keywords | Yes | Comma-separated phrases matched anywhere in a bid's title, description, agency or location. "curb and gutter" stays one phrase; a stem like "landscap" also catches "landscaping". |
| Trade | Not yet | Not yet as an alert filter — use keywords for your trade ("roofing, re-roof, membrane"). The free dashboard's trade filter works where AI classification runs (Wyoming plus every state with an active subscriber). |
| Estimated value | Not yet | Not yet — most public postings do not publish a value, so a value filter would silently hide most bids. |
| Agency | Not yet | Not as a filter, but keywords match the agency name, so "Harris County" or "TxDOT" as a keyword works. |
How many bids will an alert send?
Fewer than you might expect, and that is the point. One trade in one state usually means a few new public bids a day, and some days none — public agencies post in bursts around budget cycles and bid-opening dates. A search with no keywords in a large state can run to dozens a day; a search with a tight keyword list may go quiet for a week. Start broad, read a few mornings of email, then narrow the keywords. You can see how many bids are open in each state before you subscribe — no login required to look.
What do bid alerts cost?
$19.99/month for one state — about $0.67 a day — or $49.99/month for all 48. Month-to-month, 30-day money-back on your first payment.
How do BidRanger bid alerts work?
You save a search — a state (or several on All-Access), any mix of construction, services, equipment & supply, and optional keywords. Every morning BidRanger takes the bids it collected from federal SAM.gov and state and local agency portals, keeps the ones that match your searches and have not been emailed to you before, and sends one email at 7am Eastern. Each bid links to the original posting.
Will I get the same bid twice?
No. BidRanger records every bid it has emailed to you and never sends it again, even if it still matches tomorrow or matches two of your searches. A bid that matches several searches appears once. Re-running the digest on the same day sends nothing new.
What happens on a day with nothing new?
No email. BidRanger does not send an empty digest or a "no matches today" note, so an email in your inbox always means at least one new matching bid. If you expected mail and got none, check that your saved search is enabled and that its keywords are not too narrow.
Can I filter bid alerts by trade?
Not yet as an alert setting. Alerts filter on states, categories, and keywords, so the reliable way to follow a trade is a keyword list for it, for example "paving, asphalt, overlay, chip seal". The free dashboard has a trade filter where AI classification runs (Wyoming plus every state with an active subscriber); elsewhere bids show "Pending".
Do you send bid alerts by text message (SMS)?
No. BidRanger sends email only — one message a day at 7am Eastern, grouped by category with the soonest-closing bids first. There is no app, no SMS and no push notification, and there is no plan to add a channel that would interrupt you more than once a day.
How soon after a bid is posted does the alert arrive?
Usually the next morning. BidRanger refreshes its data every 24 hours and sends the digest at 7am Eastern, so a bid posted today is normally in tomorrow's email. It is a daily digest, not a real-time feed — if you need same-hour notice from one agency, subscribe to that agency's own list as well.
Do I need to set up a saved search to get alerts?
No, but you should. A subscriber with no saved search gets every new bid in their plan's states from roughly the last day of intake, with a note pointing to where to narrow it. A saved search with a category and a few keywords is what turns that into a short, relevant email.
Can I get bid alerts for more than one state?
Yes, on All-Access ($49.99/month), which covers all 48 lower-48 states and lets each saved search pick its own states. Solo ($19.99/month) covers one state of your choice. Both plans send the same 7am Eastern email; the difference is the states it may include.
What do bid alerts cost, and can I cancel?
Solo is $19.99/month for one state and All-Access is $49.99/month for all 48 states, billed month-to-month with no contract and no sales call. Cancel any time from your account, and the first payment carries a 30-day money-back guarantee. Browsing every bid on the dashboard stays free without an account.
Are there free government bid alert services?
Yes, for a single source each. SAM.gov saved searches email you new federal opportunities for free. BidNet Direct's Basic tier is free (Basic is free: browse and submit bids to its member agencies, with bid-match emails.) but only for agencies that post through its purchasing groups. Many state DOTs and larger cities run their own notification lists. BidRanger exists for contractors who would otherwise maintain a dozen of those.
$19.99/month for one state — about $0.67 a day — or $49.99/month for all 48. Month-to-month, 30-day money-back on your first payment.