# NextBid

> Open government bids, already read. Search them yourself. Or bring your AI.

NextBid provides normalized U.S. public procurement data for humans, applications, and AI agents. NextBid collects and normalizes public procurement data across its source network, then publishes that data to the NextBid Data service for API and MCP access; customer requests never query the collection systems directly.

AI agents are permitted to discover NextBid, read public documentation, and use the NextBid REST API or MCP server with an authorized account.

AI agents are welcome. Your own assistants and agents may use NextBid through the API and MCP under your account. No separate agent seats.

Start: https://nextbid.us/ai
API documentation: https://nextbid.us/docs
Pricing and trial: https://nextbid.us/pricing
Subscribe / sign up (people and AI agents): https://nextbid.us/ai#signup
Trust and provenance: https://nextbid.us/trust

## What NextBid is
NextBid is an independent company, not a government agency. It collects notices from multiple public procurement sites across the U.S. (federal, including U.S. federal work abroad, and an expanding set of state and local sites), keeps one record per opportunity, and, when source documents are available, retrieves them and extracts searchable text tied back to the source. Every record links to its official notice and shows when its source was last checked. The issuing agency's official notice always controls. Set-aside labels show how the agency designated an opportunity; they are not size or eligibility determinations. AI summaries are decision support and are labelled as AI.

## Connect
- [Bring your AI](https://nextbid.us/ai): connect over MCP or REST, the tools, filters, example questions, cost and controls
- [Connect with MCP](https://nextbid.us/mcp): remote endpoint, key header, the twelve tools, what counts as a call, limits
- MCP endpoint: https://api.nextbid.us/mcp (Streamable HTTP, header X-API-Key). Without a key, a client can connect and list the tools (no data, nothing counted); every tool call needs a key.
- REST base: https://api.nextbid.us/v1
- [OpenAPI specification](https://nextbid.us/openapi.json)
- [API documentation](https://nextbid.us/docs)
- [Machine-readable summary](https://nextbid.us/ai.json)

## Subscribe / sign up (people and AI agents)
Authorized AI agents may assist with or complete NextBid signup and account setup. Payment and acceptance of terms must be authorized by the account owner or organization.

1. Request a signup link: POST https://data.nextbid.us/start/request with JSON {"name", "email", "business", "plan": "monthly"|"annual" (optional), "source": "ai_assisted"|"agent"|"api"|"human_web" (optional)}. People can use any "Start now" button on https://nextbid.us/pricing instead. The answer is {"ok":true} for any valid request (existing accounts are not revealed).
2. Email verification is required before checkout: the owner opens the link sent from admin@nextbid.us (https://nextbid.us/start?t=<token>&plan=...). The link works for 24 hours; a new request replaces it.
3. Choose a plan on that page: Monthly $49.99 a month or Annual $499 a year. Same access; 6,000 calls each month after the trial.
4. Checkout on Stripe. A payment method is required; nothing is charged today, and nothing is charged if the subscription is cancelled before the 14-day trial ends.
5. After checkout (https://nextbid.us/start/complete?session_id=...) the company account is ready: create the password, which signs in to https://data.nextbid.us/dashboard.
6. Create API keys at https://data.nextbid.us/keys.
7. Connect over REST (https://api.nextbid.us/v1/...) or MCP (https://api.nextbid.us/mcp), header X-API-Key.

- Trial: 14 days, up to 100 calls and 250 unique opportunities, whichever comes first. Card required. "Activate now" at https://data.nextbid.us/billing ends the trial early and starts the paid plan.
- The optional "source" field is used only to measure how signups start (human_web, ai_assisted, agent, api; anything else is recorded as unknown). No source is restricted.
- Structured copy of these steps: https://nextbid.us/ai.json ("signup").

## Usage and price
- Trial: every subscription starts with a 14-day trial: up to 250 unique opportunities delivered and up to 100 calls, whichever comes first; one active key during the trial. A card is required to start; cancel before the trial ends and nothing is charged. Keys are created in the NextBid account after email verification, plan choice and card. Each unique opportunity returned counts once toward the 250; returning it again uses a call but not another delivery.
- Price: NextBid Data is $49.99 a month or $499 a year, the same access either way, with 6,000 calls each month included (annual subscribers too). Designed for ongoing research, applications and AI agents. Bulk copying or resale isn't permitted. At the allowance the API answers 402; extra usage is planned and stays off unless the customer sets a spending cap.
- One call = one metered API request or MCP tool call; REST and MCP share one meter. Search counts and facets use one call but deliver no opportunities. At most 25 results per search request.
- Limits: 600 calls a minute per key, 4 requests in flight per key, one text file of up to 5 MB per request; over a limit returns 429 with Retry-After, never a bill.
- [Pricing](https://nextbid.us/pricing) · [Usage and limits](https://nextbid.us/pricing#usage)

## Trust
- [How NextBid works](https://nextbid.us/trust)
- [Data sources and freshness](https://nextbid.us/trust/data-sources): sources, refresh, the exact definition of "open", designated vs mentioned set-asides, what NextBid changes
- [How our AI works](https://nextbid.us/trust/ai): where AI is and is not used, what it never decides, what is recorded when your AI uses NextBid
- [Not affiliated with government](https://nextbid.us/trust/not-affiliated)
- [Service status](https://nextbid.us/status)

## Permissions
- [API Terms](https://nextbid.us/legal/api-terms) (draft, not yet in effect)
- [Acceptable Use](https://nextbid.us/legal/acceptable-use) (draft, not yet in effect): use the API or MCP, not scraping; no resale or bulk copying of records, documents or buyer contacts
- [Terms of Service](https://nextbid.us/terms) · [Privacy](https://nextbid.us/privacy)

## Reference
- [Small business and set-asides](https://nextbid.us/small-business): set-aside programs with official references
- [Trades and services](https://nextbid.us/trades): trade scopes with specialties and search aliases