u/ASunar2021

I've been working closely with a construction firm and noticed something that surprised me — a huge part of the executive/owner's day goes into just finding the right contracts to bid on. A lot of it still runs on word of mouth and manual SAM.gov searches.

It seems like a big chunk of this could be automated with AI: pulling contracts from SAM.gov, checking whether the firm is actually a fit (NAICS, size standards, past performance, location, bonding capacity, etc.), and even drafting a first-pass proposal.

I'm just trying to learn here:

• Is anyone already using tools like this? (GovDash, Sweetspot, CLEATUS, SamSearch, McCarren, GovSignals, etc. — or something else?)
• What actually works well, and where do they fall short — especially for construction specifically?
• Do they handle construction-specific stuff (Davis-Bacon, bonding, set-asides for NAICS 236/237/238, sub solicitation) or does it still end up being mostly manual?
• For folks not using any of these — what's held you back? Price? Trust? Just not a priority vs. relationships?

Would love to hear your takes — good, bad, or "I tried it and went back to spreadsheets."

Thanks!