Federal contracts ending soon: what the end dates mean
What the current and potential end dates on a federal contract record mean, why a contract ending does not mean it will be bought again, and what Firmenza shows.
Updated
A federal contract record has a current end date, the scheduled completion of the base contract and the options already exercised, and a potential end date, which assumes every option is exercised. An end date says when an agreement's term is scheduled to finish; it does not say whether the agency will buy the work again, or when. Firmenza lists contracts ending soon in your NAICS codes as published and predicts nothing.
What do the end dates on a contract mean?
USAspending.gov publishes two end dates for a contract. The current end date is the contract completion date based on the schedule in the contract: the scheduled completion of the base contract and of any options exercised so far. The potential end date is the date the award ends after exercising any pre-determined extension options.
A modification that exercises an option, or that shortens or extends the period of performance, revises the current end date. So a date can move after it is published.
Why is a contract ending not a promise of a new solicitation?
FAR 17.204 says a contract with options states the period within which an option may be exercised and limits the overall duration of its term, including any extension. Unless agency procedures allow more, the basic and option periods together are limited to five years for services, and that limit does not apply to information technology contracts.
An agency decides whether to exercise an option. FAR 17.207 lists what the contracting officer determines first, among them that funds are available, that the requirement fulfills an existing Government need and that exercising the option is the most advantageous method of fulfilling the need.
A contract can also carry a clause that lets the Government require continued performance of services for a limited time (FAR 52.217-8) or extend the term by written notice (FAR 52.217-9), within limits the contract states. So a contract can end, be extended or be bought again, as the agency decides.
What do people mean by a recompete?
Recompete is the word people use for a new competition for work an existing contract covers. It is not a rule, and an end date does not make one happen: whether and when an agency competes work again is the agency's decision.
Where do the dates come from?
They are the dates as reported to federal procurement systems and published by USAspending.gov. Past federal contract awards says how current that data is and what the amounts and the other dates on an award mean.
What does Firmenza show?
In the market view, Contracts ending soon in your codes lists contract awards in the first five NAICS codes of your profile whose current period of performance ends within the next year, soonest first, as published by USAspending.gov. Each row shows the awarding agency, the NAICS code, the end date, the award's own description and its source. The list shows no company name; that stays on the award's own page.
On a contract notice's page, the line The current contract ends on appears only when the contract is still running and ends within a year of the notice's response date. It is a date as published and never a prediction.
The agency decides whether to buy again, and when, and the list predicts nothing. The dates are not a deadline for anything. Contract opportunity matches in Firmenza goes through the rest of the market view.
Free help also exists: APEX Accelerators (DoD-funded, free) and the Federal Service Desk will help you at no charge. We built Firmenza to be useful alongside them.
Look up a code
Search the NAICS and PSC lists by words or by number.
Sources
- USAspending.gov: Data Dictionary (period of performance current and potential end dates)
- Acquisition.gov: FAR 17.204, Contracts (options and the total term)
- Acquisition.gov: FAR 17.207, Exercise of options
- Acquisition.gov: FAR 52.217-8, Option to Extend Services
- Acquisition.gov: FAR 52.217-9, Option to Extend the Term of the Contract
Read next
Check your own record
The free health check reads the public SAM.gov record and tells you what it says — status, expiration date, and what is worth a second look.