Search Government Files

Search_Government_Files is the GovTribe MCP search tool for government-provided files tied to federal and state/local contracting and grant workflows; if content beyond content_snippet is needed, call Documentation with article_name="Vector_Store_Content_Retrieval_Guide", then use Add_To_Vector_Store and Search_Vector_Store.

When To Use

Typical questions this tool answers well:

• Which government files mention a phrase, concept, or requirement in the file corpus?

• Which files are attached to a known federal contract opportunity, federal grant opportunity, IDV, state/local opportunity, agency, state, or jurisdiction?

• Which files include specific points of contact and should be reviewed first?

• Which file set should be staged into a vector store for follow-on semantic file chunk retrieval?

• How can I return search metadata only (per_page: 0) versus document rows (per_page > 0)?

Required Reading

1. Search_Query_Guide: Required before setting free-text query strings when search_mode is used.

2. Search_Mode_Guide: Required before choosing keyword vs semantic retrieval.

3. Location_Filtering_Guide: Required before setting location filters.

Input Contract

• query: Free-text query string. See Required Reading: Search_Query_Guide.

  • type: string

  • required: no

  • default: n/a

• page: 1-based page index.

  • type: null|number

  • required: no

  • default: 1

• per_page: Rows per page.

  • type: null|number

  • required: no

  • default: 10

• search_mode: Query interpretation mode. See Required Reading: Search_Mode_Guide.

  • type: string

  • required: no

  • default: keyword

  • options: keyword, semantic

• federal_contract_idv_ids: Filter by federal contract IDVs. Use GovTribe IDs.

  • type: array<string>

  • required: no

  • default: n/a

• federal_contract_idv_ids_operator: Choose whether to include or exclude values for Federal Contract IDV GovTribe IDs.

  • type: null|string

  • required: no

  • default: in

  • options: in, not_in

• federal_contract_opportunity_ids: Filter by federal contract opportunities. Use GovTribe IDs.

  • type: array<string>

  • required: no

  • default: n/a

• federal_contract_opportunity_ids_operator: Choose whether to include or exclude values for Federal Contract Opportunity GovTribe IDs.

  • type: null|string

  • required: no

  • default: in

  • options: in, not_in

• federal_grant_opportunity_ids: Filter by federal grant opportunities. Use GovTribe IDs.

  • type: array<string>

  • required: no

  • default: n/a

• federal_grant_opportunity_ids_operator: Choose whether to include or exclude values for Federal Grant Opportunity GovTribe IDs.

  • type: null|string

  • required: no

  • default: in

  • options: in, not_in

• jurisdiction_ids: Filter by jurisdictions. Use GovTribe IDs or FIPS codes. See Required Reading: Location_Filtering_Guide.

  • type: array<string>

  • required: no

  • default: n/a

• jurisdiction_ids_operator: Choose whether to include or exclude values for Jurisdiction IDs (GovTribe or FIPS code).

  • type: null|string

  • required: no

  • default: in

  • options: in, not_in

• state_local_contract_opportunity_ids: Filter by state and local contract opportunities. Use GovTribe IDs.

  • type: array<string>

  • required: no

  • default: n/a

• state_local_contract_opportunity_ids_operator: Choose whether to include or exclude values for State and Local Contract Opportunity GovTribe IDs.

  • type: null|string

  • required: no

  • default: in

  • options: in, not_in

• state_ids: Filter by states. Use GovTribe IDs or USPS state codes. See Required Reading: Location_Filtering_Guide.

  • type: array<string>

  • required: no

  • default: n/a

• state_ids_operator: Choose whether to include or exclude values for State IDs (GovTribe or USPS code).

  • type: null|string

  • required: no

  • default: in

  • options: in, not_in

• contact_ids: Filter by points of contact. Use GovTribe IDs.

  • type: array<string>

  • required: no

  • default: n/a

• contact_ids_operator: Choose whether to include or exclude values for Contact GovTribe IDs.

  • type: null|string

  • required: no

  • default: in

  • options: in, not_in

• federal_agency_ids: Filter by federal agencies. Use GovTribe IDs.

  • type: array<string>

  • required: no

  • default: n/a

• federal_agency_ids_operator: Choose whether to include or exclude values for Federal Agency GovTribe IDs.

  • type: null|string

  • required: no

  • default: in

  • options: in, not_in

• similar_filter: Find similar to the provided govtribe_type + govtribe_id.

  • type: null|object

  • required: no

  • default: n/a

  • shape: { govtribe_type: string, govtribe_id: string }

• government_file_ids: Include or exclude results by GovTribe IDs.

  • type: array<string>

  • required: no

  • default: n/a

• government_file_ids_operator: Choose whether to include or exclude values for GovTribe IDs.

  • type: null|string

  • required: no

  • default: in

  • options: in, not_in

• sort: Sort configuration.

  • type: object

  • required: no

  • default: n/a

  • shape: { key?: null|string, direction?: null|string }

  • options: key: postedDate, _score; direction: asc, desc

• fields_to_return: Optional field list for row payloads. If omitted and per_page > 0, rows default to govtribe_id. For per_page: 0 aggregation/meta calls, this field may be omitted. Specify fields_to_return whenever the user asks for fields beyond govtribe_id, and prefer omitting it in pure aggregation workflows.

  • type: array<string>

  • required: no

  • default: n/a

  • options: govtribe_id, govtribe_ai_summary, govtribe_type, govtribe_url, name, download_url, size, posted_date, content_snippet, updated_at, parent_record, found_in_file_contacts

Output Contract

• Top-level keys:

  • current_page: Current page number when per_page > 0.

  • data: Array of result rows when per_page > 0.

  • from: First row position in the current page.

  • last_page: Last page number for current filters.

  • path: GovTribe search URL for this result set.

  • per_page: Applied page size.

  • to: Last row position in the current page.

  • total: Total matched row count for current query filters.

  • contains: Dataset label for the returned result set.

  • search_results_id_can_generate_saved_search: Saved-search eligibility flag.

  • search_results_id: Server-side search result identifier.

  • view_search_results_url: URL to open this exact result set.

  • When per_page: 0, responses are metadata-only and include path, total, contains, search_results_id_can_generate_saved_search, search_results_id, and view_search_results_url.

• Row keys:

  • govtribe_id

  • govtribe_ai_summary

  • govtribe_type

  • govtribe_url

  • name

  • download_url

  • size

  • posted_date

  • content_snippet

  • updated_at

  • parent_record

  • found_in_file_contacts

• Relationship retrieval map:

  • found_in_file_contacts

    • resource_type: contact

    • tool: Search_Contacts

    • filter: contact_ids

    • nested_keys: govtribe_id, govtribe_type, name, email, govtribe_url

  • parent_record

    • resource_type: federal_contract_idv

    • tool: Search_Federal_Contract_IDVs

    • filter: federal_contract_i_d_v_ids

    • nested_keys: govtribe_id, govtribe_type, govtribe_url, name

    • resource_type: federal_contract_opportunity

    • tool: Search_Federal_Contract_Opportunities

    • filter: federal_contract_opportunity_ids

    • nested_keys: govtribe_id, govtribe_type, govtribe_url, name

    • resource_type: federal_grant_opportunity

    • tool: Search_Federal_Grant_Opportunities

    • filter: federal_grant_opportunity_ids

    • nested_keys: govtribe_id, govtribe_type, govtribe_url, name

    • resource_type: state_local_contract_opportunity

    • tool: Search_State_And_Local_Contract_Opportunities

    • filter: state_and_local_contract_opportunity_ids

    • nested_keys: govtribe_id, govtribe_type, govtribe_url, name

Usage Patterns

Pattern A: Keyword lookup for exact phrases in government-file corpus, scoped by federal opportunity IDs. Tool: Search_Government_Files

{
  "query": "\"performance work statement\" \"Q&A\"",
  "search_mode": "keyword",
  "fields_to_return": [
    "govtribe_id"
  ],
  "federal_contract_opportunity_ids": [
    "<FEDERAL_OPPORTUNITY_ID>"
  ],
  "federal_contract_opportunity_ids_operator": "in",
  "sort": {
    "key": "postedDate",
    "direction": "desc"
  },
  "page": 1,
  "per_page": 10
}

Pattern B: Semantic discovery for conceptually related files, filtered by agency and state. Tool: Search_Government_Files

{
  "query": "upcoming network modernization support requirements in healthcare facilities",
  "search_mode": "semantic",
  "fields_to_return": [
    "govtribe_id"
  ],
  "federal_agency_ids": [
    "<FEDERAL_AGENCY_ID>"
  ],
  "federal_agency_ids_operator": "in",
  "state_ids": [
    "<STATE_ID>"
  ],
  "state_ids_operator": "in",
  "sort": {
    "key": "_score",
    "direction": "desc"
  },
  "page": 1,
  "per_page": 15
}

Pattern C: Retrieve files tied to a known IDV, then expand extracted contacts via Search_Contacts. Tool: Search_Government_Files

{
  "query": "",
  "search_mode": "keyword",
  "fields_to_return": [
    "govtribe_id"
  ],
  "federal_contract_idv_ids": [
    "<IDV_GOVTRIBE_ID>"
  ],
  "federal_contract_idv_ids_operator": "in",
  "sort": {
    "key": "postedDate",
    "direction": "desc"
  },
  "page": 1,
  "per_page": 25
}

Pattern D: Metadata-only call to get result-count/search-result identifiers without row payload. Tool: Search_Government_Files

{
  "query": "",
  "search_mode": "keyword",
  "state_local_contract_opportunity_ids": [
    "<STATE_LOCAL_OPPORTUNITY_ID>"
  ],
  "state_local_contract_opportunity_ids_operator": "in",
  "sort": {
    "key": "postedDate",
    "direction": "desc"
  },
  "page": 1,
  "per_page": 0
}