Platform · 06 Finance

Up to $50M in capital, against the award.

As an award lands, SamSearch flags the working capital gap and introduces financing partners who specialize in government contracts, so cash flow never caps your growth.

Why this is hard

You need cash before the government pays. Performance starts the day the award lands; the first invoice clears weeks or months later.

Performance starts immediately

Payroll, equipment, mobilisation and subcontractors all need funding before the first government payment arrives. That is often millions in outlay against an award that pays on net-45 or later.

Traditional banks aren't built for GovCon

Most lenders underwrite your financial statements, not the strength of an awarded federal contract, so they cannot price the award as the asset it is, so work already won gets turned down.

Payment cycles create working capital gaps

Even under Prompt Payment rules, the clock starts on acceptance, and disputes, invoicing errors and contracting-officer turnover stretch the cycle well past 30 days.

What SamSearch does

Finance awarded contracts

Draw capital against the government's obligation to pay, not your balance sheet.

Unlock growth capital

Credit facilities sized to the awarded work already in your pipeline.

Institutional partners

Lenders who underwrite government receivables and awarded contracts as their core business.

What you get out of it

Finance against awarded work

Access capital secured by government contracts and receivables, whether federal, state, municipal or grant-funded, not solely by your company's financial history.

Bridge the payment gap

Fund payroll, materials, subcontractors and mobilisation while the government's payment cycle runs, so delivery never waits on cash.

Scale without turning down work

Credit facilities sized around awarded contracts, from six figures up to $50M, let you pursue larger opportunities with confidence, rather than against last year's accounts.

The gap between doing the work and being paid for it

A prime performs for months before an invoice clears. Payroll does not wait for net-45.

Money leaves before any arrives

Payroll runs several times, materials are bought and subcontractors are paid, all before the first invoice is even submitted. That shaded span is the working capital gap.

Winning bigger makes it worse

The gap scales with the award. A contract large enough to change the company is a contract large enough to break its cash position in the first quarter.

It is a financing problem, not a sales one

Nothing about the award is wrong. The mismatch is between when performance costs money and when the government pays for it.

What can be financed

Any awarded work with a payment schedule behind it, not just federal prime contracts.

Federal prime and subcontract awards

Including task orders under an IDIQ and work performed as a subcontractor to a prime, where the receivable is the prime rather than the government.

State, local and education awards

SLED contracts carry their own payment cycles, and several jurisdictions are considerably slower than the federal Prompt Payment clock.

Grant-funded work

Reimbursement grants pay in arrears against submitted costs, which creates the same gap as a net-45 contract and is financed the same way.

Mobilisation before performance

Equipment, bonding, hiring and site setup, which all land before the first invoice can be raised at all.

Stop turning down work you could win

The ceiling is not what you can perform. It is what you can fund before the government pays.

Facilities sized around awarded contracts

Credit is underwritten against work you have actually won, from six figures up to $50M, rather than against your financial statements.

Introduced against a specific gap

Partners see a dated shortfall on a booked award rather than a general request for capital. That is a different conversation, and a faster one, with terms you can compare side by side.

Frequently asked questions

How does financing work inside SamSearch?

SamSearch is the intelligence layer, not the lender. As opportunities move through your pipeline, it identifies where an award will open a working capital gap and introduces institutional financing partners only when they are relevant, so financing is a workflow inside the operating system that already tracks the journey, not a separate process you start from scratch.

How do small businesses finance a government contract?

Usually through contract financing or receivables factoring, where the lender underwrites the award and the government's obligation to pay rather than the contractor's balance sheet. Because the payer is the federal government, the credit risk is unusually low, which is why specialist lenders will fund work that a general commercial lender will not.

What is government contract factoring?

Factoring advances cash against invoices you have already issued to the government, at a discount, so you are not waiting out the payment cycle to make payroll. It is more expensive than a line of credit and faster to arrange, which makes it a common bridge during the first months of performance.

How long does the government take to pay an invoice?

The Prompt Payment Act generally requires payment within 30 days of a proper invoice, but the clock starts on acceptance, and disputes, invoicing errors or contracting-officer turnover routinely push it further. Planning on 45 to 60 days of working capital for the first invoice cycle is the safer assumption.

Can you get funding before the contract is awarded?

Mobilization funding against an award you have won is common; funding against a bid you have not yet won is not. This is why the pipeline matters to a lender: a documented history of awards in a market they understand is what makes the next one financeable.

Automate the full GovCon cycle

Each stage runs off the same profile, the same documents and the same pipeline. Click any stage to see how it works.

See the whole cycle in one platform.

Book a 20-minute demo and we will walk your team through the stage that is costing you the most.

Book a Demo