How to filter contracts by tags

A government posting carries more than a title. It might say which office put it out, whether it’s set aside for small business, or which commodity code it falls under. When a posting comes with that kind of detail, ContractRadar keeps it — and you can filter your search by it.

What tags are — and why not every contract has them

A tag is one of those extra details attached to a contract: a set-aside, the department that posted it, a commodity code, a solicitation number. They come straight from the original posting, and here’s the important part — different agencies publish different details. One contract might carry a set-aside and a department; the next might carry neither. That’s normal, and it’s not something we can fix, because we only ever show what the source actually published.

So the tags on offer change as your search changes. The picker only lists tags that your current results actually carry, and the number beside each value is how many of those results have it. If a filter would return nothing, you’re never shown it in the first place — the list is short on purpose.

Filter by a tag

Tags filter in both places you look at contracts: the Search page, and your matches. It’s the same control in the same place, and the counts always describe whatever you’re looking at right then — your search results on one page, your own matches on the other.

1. On Search, run a search first — tags describe results, so you need results before there is anything to narrow. On your matches, they’re ready straight away.
2. Open Advanced filters and find the Tags section.
3. Pick a tag from the dropdown. You’ll typically see things like Set-Aside, Department, or a commodity/NIGP code — whatever your current results carry.
4. Tick the values you want. The number beside each one is how many of your current results have it.
5. On Search, press Search to apply it; on your matches it applies as you tick. Either way the Advanced filters badge counts each tag you’ve added, and Clear Filters removes them all.

Using more than one

Ticking several values under one tag widens the search: tick 8A and WOSB under Set-Aside and you’ll see contracts matching either of them.

Adding a second tag row does the opposite — it narrows. Add a Department row on top of your Set-Aside row and a contract now has to match both to show up. That’s how you go from a page of maybes to a shortlist. In practice, more than a couple of tags at once usually returns nothing — each detail you demand is one more thing the posting had to publish.

Looking up a solicitation number

Some tags are identifiers rather than categories — a solicitation number, for instance. You won’t pick those from a list; you type them into a box. Enter it exactly as printed on the contract, capitals and dashes included — it’s an exact match, so a lowercase or reworded version finds nothing.

Save it, and get alerts for it

Tag filters are part of the search, not a separate setting — so when you save a search, its tags are saved with it, and when you turn on email alerts, the daily alert applies them too. Save a search filtered to Set-Aside: 8A and its alerts only ever email you 8(a) work.

Filtering by tags is free for everyone. Saving a search and getting daily alerts on it is part of Pro — see pricing.