Module one
Federal demand
Every metric by fiscal year (the federal year, October to September), FY2016 to FY2026, from every unclassified contract action reported to FPDS, the Federal Procurement Data System, under the codes studied. Other transaction agreements (OTAs), classified awards and grants are not in FPDS, so no figure here includes them.
Space only, FY2016 to FY2026
FY2026 closed on 30 September but was pulled on 2026-10-14, before the Department of Defense (DoD) reporting lag of up to 90 days had passed, so DoD actions late in the year are missing. It is drawn dashed or shaded, and all year totals include it as pulled.
New award counts fall sharply from FY2021. We have not established whether this reflects buying behaviour or a change in how agencies record orders, so read award based shares after FY2020 with that in mind. Shares resting on fewer than 100 awards are set in grey italic in the tables.
Dollars are nominal: not adjusted for inflation, so flat nominal values over these years are a real decline.
Metrics
Terms used here
- Obligation
- A binding commitment of federal money on a contract action. Net obligations subtract money taken back (deobligations).
- NAICS
- North American Industry Classification System: the industry code on a contract.
- PSC
- Product and service code: what was bought. Code 18 is space vehicles; AR is space research and development.
- IDV
- Indefinite delivery vehicle: an umbrella contract that agencies place orders under.
- HHI
- Herfindahl Hirschman index, a score for how concentrated buying is, from 0 to 10000. A high score means a few agencies place most of the money.
- OTA
- Other transaction agreement: a flexible agreement outside the standard contract rules. OTAs are not reported to FPDS.
Top buyer by fiscal year
The contracting sub tier agency with the largest positive net obligations in each year.