Your next customer just won a contract they can't fulfill alone

A seven-step play for a regional security installer, commercial electrician or specialist subcontractor. It starts from USAspending, stacks SAM.gov and Firecrawl on top, and ends in a message to the prime's subcontracts manager that is useful before anyone replies.

Deploy in Glider

Installs this workflow, five project tables and a draft campaign. Source access and any external outputs are checked before research.

Category: Public records
Sources: 3
Steps: 7

The workflow

TriggerUSAspendingFresh awards in your territory: winner, site, value, start date
Evidence
SAM.govThe award's scope of work and subcontracting goals FirecrawlThe prime's own site: offices and service lines
Artifact
What you hand overA one-page capability sheet that maps your license, crews and past jobs to the scope section you would deliver.
Contact
GliderFinds the prime's subcontracts manager, with a verified work email and a phone
Message
Send itFrom your own mailboxes, evidence attached

Why it earns attention

A prime that just won work far from home has to find local trades fast, and its subcontracting goals are written into the award. You arrive already matched to the exact section of the scope you can deliver.

The play in seven steps

01
Find fresh awards in your territory
USAspending
What you pull
Contract awards from the last 60 days whose place of performance is within your service radius: the winning company, the site, the award value, the industry code and the start date.
Why it matters
An award is funded work with a start date. The winner has to staff it, and a prime based in another state rarely has your trade on the ground nearby.
Example
VA medical center, Tucson AZ · $18.4M · facility security upgrades · prime based in Virginia · work starts March 2027
02
Read the scope for your trade
SAM.gov
What you pull
The solicitation and its attachments: the statement-of-work sections that mention your trade, the quantities, and the small-business subcontracting goal if one is published.
Why it matters
This tells you exactly which piece of the job you can own, in the prime's own words, and whether they need small-business subs to hit a target.
Example
SOW 3.4: access control across 14 buildings, 220 card readers · small-business subcontracting goal 30%
03
Check whether the prime does that work locally
Firecrawl
What you pull
The prime's website: office locations, service lines, and any mention of low-voltage, security or your trade.
Why it matters
No office nearby and no division for your trade means they will be buying it from someone. That someone can be you.
Example
Offices in VA, MD and TX · services: general construction, HVAC · no low-voltage or security division listed
04
Build the capability sheet
Your artifact
What you build
One page that puts your license number, crew size, distance to the site and three comparable jobs next to the scope section you would deliver.
Why it works
The subcontracts manager can drop it straight into their sub list without a discovery call.
Example
AZ ROC low-voltage license · 30 min from site · 9 VA access-control jobs · crew of 12 · references attached
05
Check before you send
A missing office is a clue, not proof. Look for a teaming partner named in the award news or a subaward already reported before you write, and confirm the start date has not slipped.
06
Find the prime's subcontracts manager in Glider
Glider
Search for
Subcontracts managerProject managerDirector of operationsSmall business liaison officer
Why them
The subcontracts manager builds the sub list. The small business liaison has to hit the subcontracting goal, so they want to hear from qualified local firms.
What you get
A work email and a direct phone, with the email verified before it goes into a sequence.
07
Send the evidence, then run the first test
To: the prime's subcontracts managerEvery line comes from a step above
Congratulations on the VA medical center award in Tucson.¹ The scope includes access control across 14 buildings starting in March, with a 30% small-business subcontracting goal.² Your site doesn't list security work or an office in Arizona.³ We're a licensed low-voltage contractor 30 minutes from the site and have done nine VA access-control jobs. I mapped them to section 3.4 on one page.⁴ Worth a call before you finalize your sub list?
- Facts from the data (the number is the step)
- What you built for them
- One small ask
Why it works
It is about their award, not your company. It shows you read their scope, it names the gap they will have to fill anyway, and it hands them a sub who is already qualified on paper.
First test
One trade, one region, ten recent awards.
Success looks like
Two calls with subcontracts managers out of ten awards, and one invitation to quote.