Help & FAQ

Short answers to the questions we expect. If yours isn't here, email [email protected] — a human reads it.

Getting started

How do I sign in?

Two ways, both passwordless. Sign in with your Google account, or with a one-time email link: enter your email on the sign-in page and we email you a link that signs you in. The link expires in 15 minutes and works once. There's no password to create or remember.

Why is there no password option?

Passwords are the thing that gets breached. Sign-in is passwordless — a one-time email link or Google — so there's no password for anyone to phish, reuse, or breach. We think that's the right trade for a tool that touches your business data.

What does the profile actually do?

Everything. Your matches are computed from it: your NAICS codes tell us what work fits, your set-asides tell us what you're eligible for, your location tells us what's in range, and your work keywords sharpen the ranking. A thin profile gets thin matches — the form shows a live "profile strength" meter and tells you which addition would help most.

Matches

I don't see any matches. Is it broken?

Almost always it's one of these, in order of likelihood:

1. Your profile is narrow. One NAICS code + a tight radius can legitimately match nothing on a given day. Add a second NAICS code you'd genuinely bid, or a few work keywords — that's usually the fix.
2. It's a quiet day. New solicitations land on weekdays; weekends and federal holidays are slow. We scan every day and tell you how many notices we checked, so a zero-match day means the filter worked — you just didn't have to read any of them.
3. Your set-aside filter is doing its job. We never show you contracts you're legally ineligible for. That's a feature, even when it stings.

What do Strong / Possible / Broad mean?

• Strong — the match factors line up: your exact NAICS code, you're eligible for the set-aside, and (for location-bound work like construction) it's confirmed in your range.
• Possible — most factors fit but something is unconfirmed or approximate; read the per-factor reasons on the card.
• Broad — related to your profile but weaker; shown collapsed so you can ignore them cheaply.

We'd rather under-claim than over-claim: if the agency didn't specify a location, the card says "Not specified by agency" — we don't fake a checkmark.

How fresh is the data?

We ingest from SAM.gov daily (overnight, US time). An opportunity you unlock is also watched for amendments through its close date — if the agency changes it, your card gets a visible "Amended" flag.

Where does the data come from?

SAM.gov — the U.S. government's official, public, free system. We're not affiliated with the government, and we'll never charge you for the data itself (see pricing, next).

Pricing & unlocks

What's free and what's paid?

Free: sign in, build your profile, and see your matched opportunities every day — the work summary, agency, fit reasons, value band, and tier. Paid: opening the full brief — the full statement of work, the solicitation number, the contracting officer's contact, a working SAM.gov link, and the confirmed response deadline — costs $9.99 for one opportunity, $24.99 for everything for 7 days, or $49/month for everything, continuously.

Why do you hide the notice ID behind a paywall when the data is free on SAM.gov?

Honest answer: the notice is free on SAM.gov and you can absolutely go find it yourself — our terms say exactly that. What you're paying for is the finding and judging: we read every notice every day, check your eligibility, and rank what fits with reasons. The unlock price is for that work, not the document.

What exactly do I get when I unlock?

The full brief for that opportunity: the full statement of work, the solicitation number, a working SAM.gov link, the contracting officer's contact, and the confirmed response deadline — plus amendment-watch through the close date and a suggested next step (for example, how to respond if it's a Sources Sought). Most federal notices don't carry a posted award value at all — when the agency has posted one, we show it; we never guess or estimate one for you.

How does the 7-day pass work?

One payment, everything unlocked for 7 days from the moment you buy. No auto-renew — when it ends, it ends. If you find you want it all the time, the $49/month subscription is the better deal past two passes a month.

How do I cancel the subscription?

Your account page → Manage or cancel subscription → Stripe's billing portal opens → cancel there. Your access runs to the end of the period you already paid for, then billing stops. No phone calls, no chat queue, no retention offers — canceling will always be as easy as subscribing.

What's your refund policy?

No cash refunds — an unlock delivers its full value the moment it opens, and the underlying data is public. But your first unlock is guaranteed: if it turns out to be a bad match, click "Report a bad match" on the card and your next unlock is automatically free. Full details in the Terms of Service.

My card was declined.

If your card works elsewhere, email [email protected] and we'll look at it — include the date and the last 4 digits only (never email a full card number). Payments are processed by Stripe; we never see or store your card.

What shows up on my card statement?

A charge from Bird Dog via Stripe. One-time purchases are single charges; the subscription bills monthly until you cancel.

Your account & data

How do I update my profile?

Account page → "Edit your capability profile," or go straight to the profile form. Changes take effect on your next matches view.

How do I delete my account?

Account page → Delete my account → confirm. It permanently removes your identity, profile, watches, and feedback. Transaction records are kept as required for tax and legal purposes — see the Privacy Policy. If you have an active subscription, cancel it first (deletion doesn't stop Stripe billing on its own).

What do you do with my data?

The short version: we use your profile to compute matches, we don't sell your data, and our analytics are cookieless and don't identify you. The Privacy Policy is written in plain English and is genuinely short — worth the two minutes.

Is my set-aside status private?

Yes — we treat it as sensitive information (it can reveal veteran status or other personal characteristics) and use it only for eligibility matching.

Using the Bird Dog connector in Claude (MCP)

Bird Dog is also a remote MCP connector, so you can pull your federal-contract matches and manage your capability profile right inside Claude (and other MCP clients) — no copy-pasting between tabs. The connector URL is https://birddogbids.com/mcp/.

You'll need a (free) Bird Dog account and a capability profile — that's what your matches are computed from, so an empty profile means empty results.

How do I connect it?

In Claude.ai: Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector → name it "Bird Dog", URL https://birddogbids.com/mcp/. (Custom connectors require a paid Claude plan.) Claude then runs an OAuth sign-in: you'll authenticate to Bird Dog — a passwordless email link or Google — and approve access on the consent screen. Once you approve, you're connected.

In Claude Code: run

claude mcp add --transport http "Bird Dog" https://birddogbids.com/mcp/

It prompts the same OAuth sign-in.

What can it do? (tools)

The connector exposes six tools:

• fits_list — your ranked federal-solicitation matches. "Show me my Bird Dog matches."
• profile_get — your stored capability profile. "What's in my Bird Dog profile?"
• profile_upsert — create or update your profile. "Add NAICS 541512 to my Bird Dog profile."
• profile_is_minimum_viable — whether your profile has the required fields. "Is my Bird Dog profile complete?"
• solicitations_get — fetch one solicitation by its SAM.gov notice id.
• health_ping — a simple liveness check.

Is it secure? Who can see my data?

Each connection is scoped to your account by an OAuth-issued token. A token can only ever read your own profile and your own matches — never another user's. You can revoke connector access anytime from your Bird Dog account page, which lists your active tokens. Same data posture as the rest of the app — see the Privacy Policy.

What results do I see in Claude?

Exactly what you'd see on the website. Matches come back as teasers — tier and why-it-fits reasons, without the exact notice ID or SAM.gov link — unless you have an unlock, day pass, or subscription. Subscribers and day-pass holders get fully-unlocked results through the connector, the same as on the site.

Troubleshooting

• "Approve does nothing" / I can't finish connecting. Make sure pop-ups and redirects aren't blocked in your browser, confirm you're signed in to Bird Dog, then remove and re-add the connector to restart the sign-in.
• No matches / empty results. Build or complete your capability profile first — Settings → profile, or the profile builder. Ask Claude to run profile_is_minimum_viable to check whether the required fields are filled in.
• "It says I'm not authorized." Your token may have been revoked or expired. Reconnect the connector to re-authorize.
• Results look limited. That's the teaser tier — unlock, buy a day pass, or subscribe to see full notice details (the full statement of work, the solicitation number, a working SAM.gov link, and the contracting officer's contact).

Still stuck? Your account page lists and revokes tokens, or email [email protected] and a human will help.

Still stuck?

Email [email protected] with what you were trying to do and what happened instead. If it's about a specific opportunity, the work summary from the card is enough — we can find it from there.

New to federal contracting entirely? Start with our beginner's guide and the free SAM.gov alerts setup — and consider your local APEX Accelerator, free government-funded counselors who help small businesses enter federal contracting.