The Crafteny blog
Practical notes on winning federal contracts and grants, and on how we build for it. Written by the people who build Crafteny.
How to register a small business on SAM.gov in 2026
SAM.gov, Grants.gov and SBIR.gov in order, with the mistakes that stall registrations and how to avoid them. Free, with a PDF to keep.
How to renew your SAM.gov registration for free
When to start, each step, what the IRS check needs, and what a lapse costs. Free, and about an hour of work.
Why the firms that should win federal work never bid
What they lack is a capture team. What that team does, and how Crafteny puts one behind every firm.
How to read a federal solicitation in ten minutes
Five things decide a bid, and every solicitation puts them in roughly the same places. Read those first, in this order.
Contracts and grants: what changes when you pursue both
The instincts are the same; the mechanics differ in five places. Know where, and one team can pursue both.
Finding a teaming partner among 700,000 registered firms
Name the gap, search the registry and the award record together, rank, reach out, and sign before you write.
Watch
All videosMaya runs a small cleaning company and needs bigger work. Crafteny finds the contract she can win and the grant she qualifies for, helps her price it and find a partner, writes the proposal, and the award comes in.
Open a match to read the brief and why it fits, then add it as a pursuit or pass. Search the open contracts and grants, narrow them by agency, set-aside or state, and add from there too.