See the recompete
before the solicitation.
Work the Department of War (DoW) needs year after year, such as maintenance, services, and supplies, is often bought again when the contract that covers it ends. Knowing which contracts end when, and who holds them, gives a team months to prepare instead of the weeks a solicitation allows.
Updated
A contract's life
Where a recompete shows itself.
Award
A contract is signed for a base period, often with options the government may exercise.
WatchAward notice, War.gov announcement, the award's record
Options
Each exercised option extends the period of performance and adds to what is obligated.
WatchThe current end date and obligations moving
Final months
The buyer studies the market for the next contract.
WatchSources sought, requests for information, industry days, draft documents
Solicitation
The follow-on is put out for proposals, with a response deadline.
WatchA solicitation from the same buyer, for the same kind of work
New award
The incumbent wins again, or another company takes the work.
WatchThe award notice, and the next end date
Notice to contract
How Armathes links a notice to the work it may replace.
For each notice, Armathes looks for the contracts it may replace; for each award, the notices that may be its follow-on. Every link rests on facts you can check on the page, with no score and no probability. A missing fact is never a match: no code, no end date, or no shared word leaves a contract out of that claim.
Same code
The notice and the contract carry the same Product and Service Code: the government's own label for what was bought.
Same buyer
Both name the same component, matched across the two sources' different spellings.
End near the notice
The contract's reported end falls near the notice, when a replacement would be bought.
Shared title words
The two titles share words that describe the work, after common contracting words are set aside.
Beside the possible incumbents, a notice shows what comparable awards from the same buyer cost, and the companies that won the most of that money.
Expiring contracts
Every contract on the day it ends.
Expiring contracts, a view of the Deadline Calendar, places awarded contracts on the day their reported performance ends, over the months you choose, soonest first. Narrow it by agency, incumbent, or market, and see what the contracts have obligated over their lifetimes. The calendar’s other view holds the response deadlines of open notices.
Save a contract and Armathes checks it again with each import: when its end date or amount changes, the record keeps both versions and your watchlist marks the change.
In the platformDeadline CalendarWatchlist
Read it carefully
An end date is a clue, not a promise.
- An end date does not confirm a new competition. The work may be extended, folded into another contract, brought in-house, or ended.
- The current end date can move. Options and extensions push it out; the award's page also shows its end with all options.
- A follow-on can be awarded without full and open competition. The award record says how each contract was competed.
- A link is a lead to read, not a conclusion. Every one shows the facts it rests on, so you can judge it yourself.
For where each award is recorded and what its fields mean, see defense contract awards. To find the solicitation once it posts, see find defense contracts to bid on.
Questions
Asked often
- What is a recompete?
- A new competition for work the government already buys, usually as the contract that covers it nears its end. The company holding the current contract, the incumbent, may bid again against others.
- How early can a recompete be seen?
- Before any solicitation: the current contract's end date is public, and sources sought notices, requests for information, and industry days often come first. How early each appears varies by buyer and requirement.
- Where do contract end dates come from?
- USAspending.gov reports each award's current end date, and its end date with all options. War.gov's announcements give an expected completion date, which Armathes keeps with each announcement.
- Does Armathes score how likely a recompete is?
- No. It shows contracts by when they end and links notices to contracts they may replace, with the facts behind each link. It gives no probability.
- Which contracts does it cover?
- Department of War contract awards of $500,000 or more since the start of fiscal 2026, and research and development awards from $50,000, from USAspending.gov. Awards without a readable end date are left off the calendar.