# Start your government-contracting plan

Open the [platform home](index.html), then select [Guided setup](wizard.html). This platform is for your business, whether it already operates or is still being planned. It does not start with another company's facts or assume a certification.

## Follow the guided setup

Enter a business name or working name, select whether the business is formed or planned, and give its actual or intended formation location. Continue through the questions about what you sell, current readiness and target buyers. Explore optional ownership and program attributes when relevant. Review the resulting next steps, return to earlier questions to correct answers, and download your plan if you want to keep it.

Answers remain in the current page. They are not automatically saved or submitted to a government system. Download before leaving if you need to retain your work. Optional attributes may be left unknown or undisclosed. Do not enter tax IDs, banking details, personal financial documents, medical records or government-account passwords.

Your answers are planning facts supplied by you. An intended formation location is not proof of formation; a reported SAM status or certification is not verified approval. The platform explains possible paths and dependencies. It does not file applications, make certifications, contact agencies or submit bids.

## Use the learning tools

- [Learning manual](manual.html): how to use the platform, process examples and sourced historical context.
- [Operating playbook](playbook.html): the detailed 17-chapter process, official sources and contacts.
- [Glossary](glossary.html): plain-language explanations, expanded acronyms, prerequisites and related terms.
- [Dependency maps](pathways.html): what must happen first and what each completed step can enable.
- [Route explorer](explorer.html): optional attributes, fictional examples and program comparisons.
- [Program criteria](program-guide.html): detailed rules, limitations and source links for those routes.
- [Live HUBZone lookup](hubzone.html): check a street address and ZIP code before answering the office and workforce questions.
- [Working templates](templates.html): evidence records, capability statements, buyer research, proposal preparation and delivery records.

Inline information buttons explain unfamiliar terms. The optional side-panel **Test your knowledge** quiz has beginner, intermediate and advanced levels, with 20 questions each. Every answer includes an explanation and a chapter link. Switch levels without losing your progress in the current page; reloading or leaving resets all attempts. A score does not establish contracting eligibility.

## Check a HUBZone location live

Open [Live HUBZone lookup](hubzone.html) beside the **HUBZone geography and workforce** questions. Enter the street address, city, state and ZIP code, then explicitly start the search. Confirm the matched address and map pin. A ZIP alone cannot establish whether a property is inside a HUBZone. Check a business location separately from employee homes; a map match is geography evidence, not SBA certification.

The live lookup is hosted with this website; no local software is required. Clicking Search sends the entered address through this website’s lookup service to the SBA map/geocoding provider. Addresses are not automatically saved or included in the planning-report export. Each lookup makes a fresh request without using a saved result. The checked time records when the search ran; a qualification date describes the map result; neither proves when SBA last revised its source data.

Use [SBA's official map](https://maps.certify.sba.gov/hubzone/map) if the lookup service is unavailable, the address is ambiguous, or the marker is wrong. An unavailable lookup remains unverified. Review any expiration and recheck before relying on a result. Already-certified firms may have long-term-office or legacy-worker provisions to review even when today's map is negative. See the [manual](manual.html) for details.

## Optional AI-assisted planning

The public platform provides learning and planning tools. It does not host an AI chat, install a Codex skill or save a confidential client record. Chapter 16 of the playbook explains an optional advisory workflow for use with a separately configured advisor. Only share information you intend that service to process.

Research baseline: September 30, 2026. Refresh current official sources and actual solicitation requirements before a material application or bid. This learning platform is not an encrypted document vault.