GovContractScout MCP Server

Model Context Protocol (MCP) server exposing the GovContractScout US state, local, and federal government contracts API to AI agents. Search live contracts, pull details, look up NAICS codes, list states, and score contract fit — without raw HTTP.

AI agent (Claude, Cursor, etc.)  ⇄  MCP  ⇄  GovContractScout /v1 API  ⇄  50-state procurement data

Tools

All tools hit the same /v1 API as the public REST endpoint — same data, same auth, same rate limits. Live data from state procurement portals, updated daily.

Hosted endpoint (no install)

There is also a remote server at https://scout.govbidportals.com/mcp — Streamable HTTP, protocol 2025-06-18, nothing to install. It serves everything above plus get_profile (8 tools total).

Two ways to authenticate:

1. OAuth 2.1 — clients that support it connect on their own. The 401 challenge points at https://scout.govbidportals.com/.well-known/oauth-protected-resource, then you sign in and link your account.
2. API key header — a client that only sends fixed headers can pass the same gcs_live_... key the REST API takes:

curl -X POST https://scout.govbidportals.com/mcp \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer gcs_live_YOUR_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Accept: application/json, text/event-stream" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"initialize","params":{"protocolVersion":"2025-06-18","capabilities":{},"clientInfo":{"name":"my-agent","version":"1"}}}'

Both credentials carry the same plan, quota, and rate limits as the key you would use locally.

Requirements

• Node.js 18+
• A GovContractScout API key (gcs_live_...) — free tier works (100 calls/month); paid tiers for production. Get one at scout.govbidportals.com/api-keys — instant, no card.

Quickstart

Claude Code

claude mcp add govcontractscout \
  --env GCS_API_KEY=gcs_live_YOUR_KEY \
  -- npx -y govcontractscout-mcp

Any MCP client (mcp.json / mcp.settings)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "govcontractscout": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "govcontractscout-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "GCS_API_KEY": "gcs_live_YOUR_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Manual (from source)

npm install && npm run build
GCS_API_KEY=gcs_live_YOUR_KEY node dist/index.js

Configuration

Example

Ask your agent:

"Find open IT services contracts in California due this month, then score the top one for a 10-person consulting firm with T&M experience."

The agent calls search_contracts (state=CA, naics=IT services), then score_contract — no HTTP knowledge required from the agent.

Design notes

• Idempotent scoring — score_contract sends a deterministic Idempotency-Key, so retries never double-burn quota.
• Same moat as the API — list/search results deliberately exclude source URLs and raw source_portal fields (that's the aggregation moat); get_contract detail includes the original solicitation link, exactly as the API does. The MCP exposes what the API exposes.
• Honest coverage — contracts carry a data_quality field (level + which fields are populated). Some states have richer data than others; the API tells you exactly what you're getting.

API / pricing

• Free: 100 calls/month, no card
• Starter $99/mo · Growth $199/mo · annual = 17% off
• win_likelihood and archetypes are paid-tier (Starter+) — the derived-data layer
• Full API docs: scout.govbidportals.com/docs/api

Development

npm run dev    # tsx watch
npm run build  # tsc -> dist/
npm start      # run built server

The server is a thin wrapper over the public REST API (/v1/contracts, /v1/contracts/:id, /v1/naics, /v1/states, /v1/match) — see the API docs for schemas.

License

MIT