Forecasted Opportunities and Expiring Awards

How to Find Contract and Grant Opportunities Before They are Widely Released to the Public

Importance of Finding Opportunities First

Once an opportunity is posted to sam.gov or grants.gov there has often been a significant amount of preparation and shaping done by incumbent awardees or contractors/grantees with a close relationship with the soliciting agency. In some cases, opportunities are never formally posted at all as they are directed to specific contract vehicles or limited groups of potential bidders.

Identifying opportunities earlier allows you to prepare and position for the eventual solicitation, potentially shape the RFP, and forecast appropriately. HigherGov offers multiple tools to find opportunities before they become widely known to the market.

Contract Opportunities

Forecasted Opportunities

Opportunities that are forecasted by agencies prior to their formal release can be found going to Opportunities --> Contracts in the sidebar and selecting the Forecasts tab or by clicking here. Forecasted opportunities can be filtered using most of the same filter criteria that apply to released contract opportunities (such as NAICS or Set-Aside) by selecting the Filters dropdown. By clicking on the Title, you can go to the Contract Forecast detail page, which includes details including expected award dates, categories, incumbents, and contact information (as available).

Note that many agencies provide forecasts at irregular intervals. HigherGov will generally update its forecasts as often as the government agencies do so.

Sources Sought

Opportunities that have been formally posted to sam.gov but are not yet at the stage of formal solicitation can be found by going to Opportunities --> Contracts in the sidebar or by clicking here, selecting Opportunity Type from the list of Filters, and selecting Presolicitation and Sources Sought. If you are only looking for active opportunities, you should also select the Active Opportunity filter. You can add your own filters such as Agency, NAICS, Set Aside or other filters to further focus on the most relevant contracts for your business.

Potential Recompetes (Expiring Contracts)

Searching for Potential Recompetes

An effective way to find upcoming contract opportunities is to find relevant contracts that may recompete before they become publicly available as solicitations (if they do ever become publicly available). You can search for potential IDV and Prime Contract recompetes from the Contract search page at Market Intelligence -> Awards -> Contracts in the sidebar or by clicking here.

Here you can search for relevant potential recompetes by selecting the Potential Recompete option under Filters and then adding your own additional filters to customize your search (for example, NAICS, PSC, Agency, Set Aside, etc.). The Potential Recompete filter looks specifically for contracts that are more likely to have upcoming recompetes based on timing, size, and other criteria. Alternatively, rather than selecting the Potential Recompete Quick search, you can create your own filter to find using the Date Potential End filter.

Once you have found potential recompetes, you can open the IDV or Contract to find additional details about the type of work, incumbent, previous related Contract Opportunities, and the people involved in creating or approving the contract.

Vulnerable Incumbents

You can further limit your search for recompetes to target by looking for contracts where the incumbent contractor may not be able to recompete for the contract. As incumbents typically win recompetes 50-75% of the time, identifying and focusing on recompete opportunities where the incumbent may no longer be eligible for the contract, can greatly increase the likelihood of winning.

Small Business Graduations (Vulnerable SB)

You can also search for potential recompetes for competitors or other awardees that you know have exceeded their SBA NAICS thresholds by filtering by Awardee on the Contracts search page and combing this filter with the Potential Recompete filter or other relevant filters.

8(a) Graduations (Vulnerable 8(a))

If you participate in the 8(a) program, an additional way to find recompetes is to search for contracts currently held by 8(a) program members who will soon be graduating and thus are more likely to be awarded to a new contractor upon recompete. You can filter for these contracts on the Contracts search page by selecting the Vulnerable 8(a) Quick filter. You can combine this filter with the Potential Recompete filter and other relevant additional filters to narrow down to the potential recompetes most relevant to you.

Grant Opportunities

Forecasted Opportunities

Agencies that award grants will frequently provide forecasts of grant opportunities in advance of a formal posting. To find forecasted grant opportunities, go to Opportunities -> Grants in the sidebar (or click here) and select Posting Type from the list of filters and choose the Forecasted checkmark.

Recompetes

An effective way to find potential upcoming grant opportunities is to find relevant grants that may recompete. You can search for potential Grant recompetes from the Grant search page at Market Intelligence -> Awards -> Grants in the sidebar or by clicking here.

To find grants that are likely to be re-awarded, go to Awards --> Grants in the sidebar (or click here) and select Recompete Opportunities under Quick Search. This filters for grants that based on duration, value, and other factors are likely to recompete within the next 12 months. You can add your own filters such as Agency, Assistance Type, or Place of Performance or other filters to further focus on the most relevant contracts for your business.