Tango FAQ

Common questions about the Tango API and federal procurement sources.

Isn't there a SAM.gov and USASpending API? Can't I just use those?

Short answer: Sure, but don't say we didn't warn you.

Practical answer: Tango is an API that unifies SAM.gov, FPDS, USAspending, and more than twenty other federal sources — from the federal budget to bid protests to SBA and GSA data — behind a single API key. It's the closest thing to a unified government contracting API (opens in new tab). In creating it, we leveraged the federal data sources, but each data source has its own peculiarities and limitations, and it's time consuming and expensive to get the data to actually work in a way that lets you focus on shipping.

How does this compare to companies like GovWin, G2X, HigherGov, or Fedmine?

These are all great services if you need a user interface. Tango, however, is built for public-sector builders. If you are looking to work directly with the data and are comfortable with APIs, Tango is the answer you're looking for.

What's up with all of these identifiers? UEIs, USASpending keys, etc?

Each procurement system has its own different core identifiers. For example, FPDS primarily uses PIIDs for awards, whereas USASpending has its own award key format. SAM.gov uses UEIs (Unique Entity Identifier) for entities. Tango allows for you to use these identifiers to work with the authoritative data sources, while also going beyond what each individual system can provide.

How much does Tango cost?

There's a free tier. Otherwise, full pricing is on the pricing page (opens in new tab).

How do I read the docs (or feed them to an LLM)?

The full docs live at docs.makegov.com (opens in new tab). For programmatic / LLM consumption, we also publish:

What SDKs do you support?

Tango ships first-class, open-source SDKs for four languages, with parity on the API surface we expose:

For any other language, the REST API + OpenAPI spec at tango.dev/api/openapi.json (opens in new tab) is enough to generate a client.

What data sources does Tango cover?

Everything below is live in the API today — each one is something you can query, not a roadmap item:

  • Contracts and spending — contracts, IDVs, and Other Transaction awards from FPDS; subawards from SAM.gov subcontract reports, linked to their prime awards through USAspending; recipient data from USAspending; MAS schedule contracts from GSA eLibrary; labor-category pricing from GSA CALC; and federal IT investments from the IT Dashboard
  • The federal budget — requested budget authority from the OMB President's Budget and Appendix; enacted, obligated, and outlayed amounts, quarter by quarter, from Treasury SF-133 reports; apportionments from OMB; and the link from each budget account to the contracts it funds, from USAspending Files A and C
  • Opportunities — contract opportunities and notices from SAM.gov; grant opportunities from Grants.gov; defense logistics solicitations from DLA DIBBS; SBIR/STTR topics and awards from SBIR.gov and DoD DSIP; and procurement forecasts published by 15 agencies
  • Companies — entity registrations and exclusions (debarments) from SAM.gov; small business profiles, capabilities, and principals from SBA DSBS; and mentor-protégé agreements and the joint ventures they form from the SBA Mentor-Protégé Program
  • Protests and disputes — bid protests from GAO and SBA OHA (2015 onward) and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (2026 onward); and contract appeal decisions from the CBCA (2007 onward) and ASBCA (2010 onward)
  • Rules and notices — every rule, proposed rule, notice, and presidential document in the Federal Register since 1994
  • Reference data — the federal hierarchy of departments, agencies, and offices; business types and assistance listings from SAM.gov; NAICS codes from the Census Bureau, with size standards from the SBA; product and service codes from the acquisition.gov PSC Manual; and MAS SINs from GSA
  • State, local, and education (beta) — solicitations and forecasts from 45 state, local, and education procurement portals, with a coverage endpoint that tells you which jurisdictions we read. Coverage is still growing, and these records don't yet join to the federal data.

How fresh is the data in Tango?

The cadence is tuned per dataset to match how often the upstream source actually changes:

  • Opportunities (SAM.gov solicitations): every 20–60 minutes
  • Contracts & IDVs (FPDS): twice daily
  • Subawards (SAM.gov subcontract reports): daily
  • Entities, grants, forecasts: per the upstream publication schedule (most daily; some less often)

If you need to react to changes immediately rather than poll, see the next question on webhooks.

Does Tango support webhooks?

Yes. You can subscribe to event notifications when new data lands for awards, opportunities, entities, grants, and forecasts. See the Webhooks Partner Guide (opens in new tab) for the supported event types and payload shapes.

Can I use Tango with LLMs like ChatGPT and Claude?

Absolutely yes — many of our customers do this, and we do too. Tango is listed in both assistants' directories: add the Tango connector (opens in new tab) in Claude, or enable the Tango app (opens in new tab) in ChatGPT. Either way it's one click and a sign-in with your Tango account — no API key to paste, no config file to edit — and the assistant can then search contracts, entities, and opportunities on your behalf, within whatever your plan already allows. For Cursor and other MCP-compatible clients, point them at the Tango MCP server at https://tango.dev/mcp, which exposes the same discovery, search, and detail tools — setup details in the docs (opens in new tab). For any other LLM or agent, the REST API and the SDKs (Python, Node, Go, Rust) work the same way they would for any backend.

How do I get started?

Sign up for a free API key at tango.dev (opens in new tab).

If you have any questions, email us at hello@makegov.com.

Get a Tango API key (opens in new tab)