Straight answers.
What is the Federal Readiness Score?
A 100-point diagnostic of how ready a company is to sell to the U.S. federal government, computed from public federal data. It is built from 62 lenses across 12 categories — registration, compliance posture, market fit, past performance, and more. Every company is scored on the same scale, so a score means the same thing whether you are a ten-person ISV or an established prime. It is a diagnostic, not a certification: it tells you where you stand and what to fix, and nothing about it implies the government has endorsed anything.
What data does the score use?
Public federal sources only: SAM.gov registrations, USASpending and FPDS obligation records, the FedRAMP Marketplace, GSA CALC+ labor-rate data, and SBIR.gov awards. Nothing is scraped from private systems and nothing comes from surveys. If a signal is not publicly observable, it is not in the score — which is also why the methodology page lists what we will never show you.
How often does the data refresh?
On a rolling cadence from each public source, and every vendor page carries observation dates so you can see exactly how fresh each signal is. One structural limit worth knowing: federal obligation data reflects FPDS reporting, which carries a standard lag of about 90 days. A brand-new award may take a quarter to appear anywhere public — including here.
Why should I trust a score I can read the methodology for?
That is exactly the point. Most scoring products hide their math; ours is published on the methodology page — the 12 categories, how dollars are counted, the disclosures, and the things we refuse to claim. We are vendor-neutral: we do not sell proposals, cloud hosting, or compliance services, so the score has no incentive to flatter or frighten you. Read the methodology, then check a company you know.
Is vendor search really free?
Yes. Searching any federal vendor and seeing their public-data posture requires no login and no card. The free tier is the community layer of the product and it stays free — it is also how the milestone gate works: we do not charge anyone until the community reaches 1,000 searches and 100 reports.
What is the difference between the $99 Snapshot and the $499 Full Report?
The Snapshot is your company’s Federal Readiness Score computed from public data alone, delivered as a PDF — fast, no intake. The Full Report starts from an intake you fill out about your company, which lets the diagnostic cover everything public data cannot see, and narrates all 12 categories with prioritized next steps. If you are deciding whether to take federal seriously, start with the Snapshot; if you have decided, the Full Report is the working document.
What does the intake ask for?
Basics about your company — identity, offering, team, compliance posture, and federal history — the things a diagnostic needs that public data cannot see. It takes minutes, not hours. Nothing in the intake is resold or shared; it exists to score you, and the report is the output.
What do the FedRAMP, CMMC, and SOC 2 statuses on a vendor card mean?
They are posture signals, not certifications from us. A FedRAMP status comes from the FedRAMP Marketplace; CMMC and SOC 2 signals come from public statements and registers where they exist. Each badge tells you the program, the state of the signal, and — when verified — the source and the date we observed it. GovExpress is a diagnostic, never an assessor or certification body.
What does verified vs. self-reported mean?
Verified means a government-published record we observed ourselves — it renders with a solid check, the source, and the observation date. Self-reported means the company says so but no public register confirms it — it renders as an outlined badge labeled self-reported, and never with a checkmark. The distinction is enforced everywhere on the platform because collapsing it is how buyers get burned.
What does the CMMC Phase 2 date mean for ISVs?
On November 10, 2026, CMMC Phase 2 begins: Level 2 assessments by third-party assessment organizations start appearing in applicable solicitations. If Department of War work is on your roadmap, compliance posture stops being a marketing line and becomes a bid gate. The practical takeaway: know your posture now, because remediation takes longer than a solicitation window.
What is FedRAMP 20x?
FedRAMP 20x is the program’s modernized authorization path. Its Class A pipeline opened on August 3, 2026, and Class B and C pipelines opened on August 31, 2026. For cloud ISVs it is the fastest route to federal authorization the program has offered — which rewards companies whose readiness is already in order when a pipeline window opens.
Do you write proposals or run capture?
No. We score readiness — we do not write proposals, run capture, or bid on your behalf. That separation is deliberate: the moment a scoring product also sells the remediation, the score stops being trustworthy. Plenty of good firms do proposals; bring them your Full Report and make them argue with the data.
Are you a certification body or a 3PAO?
No. GovExpress is a diagnostic. We report publicly observable compliance posture and always distinguish verified records from self-reported claims, but we do not assess, audit, or certify anything, and no output of this platform should be represented as a certification.
Can you show me a company’s supplier performance risk score or classified work?
No, and neither can anyone else selling to the public. The government’s Supplier Performance Risk System is government-only, and classified awards are exempt from public reporting under FAR 4.606(c). Anything built on public data — including this platform — simply does not contain them, and we say so rather than papering over the gap.