Glossary / Classification
Federal Procurement Data SystemFPDS
The Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS), now part of SAM.gov, is the authoritative database of federal contract actions. Contracting officers submit award, modification, and other data to FPDS, which feeds downstream public-facing sites (USASpending.gov, HigherGov, GovTribe, and others). FPDS data includes dollar amounts, NAICS code, place of performance, small-business determinations, and competition status. Its reporting is imperfect (errors in original entries persist), but it is the main public source of federal contract award data. GSA retired the separate FPDS.gov website in February 2026; the data is now reached through SAM.gov.
Why it matters to your pipeline
Winning federal work starts with understanding who's already buying what. Most commercial market-intelligence tools start from FPDS data. Learning to query it through SAM.gov or USASpending.gov helps capture teams identify incumbents, find reference prices, and track re-competes.
When this term shows up in an opening GovSmith finds for you, your vCM explains what it means for that pursuit and does whatever it calls for. You decide; we do the work.
Example
A BD analyst queries FPDS for all awards by a target agency in NAICS 541511 over the last three years, finds the top 10 incumbents, identifies three re-competes coming in the next 18 months, and builds capture plans for each.
Find out what applies to you
Some terms will matter to your business right away and some won’t for years. A vCM can tell you which are which.