How do I find defense contracts (Army, Navy, Air Force, DoD)?
DoD contracts are posted on SAM.gov like all federal opportunities. Additional discovery sources include Contract Opportunities Search Tool (COST) on FedBizOpps legacy, DoD SBIR/STTR for small-business R&D, Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) for supply, and the specific service commands (AFICC for Air Force, ASA(ALT) for Army, NAVFAC for Navy) that publish forecasts.
Defense procurement runs through several parallel channels beyond the standard SAM.gov feed.
Primary sources for open opportunities: - SAM.gov Contract Opportunities: filter by agency = Department of Defense or specific sub-agency (Army, Navy, Air Force, DLA, DISA, DTRA, MDA). Most solicitations over the SAT appear here. - eBuy (GSA): DoD agencies procure many services through GSA Schedules, and those opportunities appear on eBuy — separate from SAM.gov. - Defense Logistics Agency Internet Bid Board System (DIBBS): DLA runs its own procurement platform for supply and repair items. Massive volume, mostly small dollar values ($5K-$500K per line item). - Service-specific contracting command portals: AFICC (Air Force), Naval Sea Systems Command, US Army Corps of Engineers, and other command-level buying offices publish forecasts and pre-solicitation announcements on their own sites.
Small-business R&D pathways: - DoD SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research): three-phase funding for early-stage R&D relevant to DoD missions. Phase I is $150K for feasibility studies; Phase II is up to $1.7M for prototype development; Phase III is unlimited (commercial or defense) with sole-source authority. Solicitations open 3 times a year. - DoD STTR (Small Business Technology Transfer): similar structure to SBIR but requires collaboration with a research institution (university or federal lab).
Set-aside categories: - Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) is heavily used in DoD procurement, especially for facility maintenance, construction, and rural-based services. - 8(a) sole-source authority (up to $7M for services, $4.5M for supplies) is widely used by DoD contracting officers. - Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) set-asides are heavily concentrated in DoD.
Forecasting: DoD annually publishes an "Advance Planning Briefings for Industry" (APBI) schedule where senior contracting officials brief upcoming procurements. These briefings tell you what's coming 12-24 months out — critical for teaming decisions and capability positioning. Attending APBIs (in person or via webcast) is high-leverage.
Prime-to-sub pathways: many defense contracts flow through large prime contractors (Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Boeing, General Dynamics, L3Harris, BAE Systems). These primes have small-business subcontracting plans that require them to hit specific small-business utilization percentages. Getting onto a prime's bidder list is often faster than competing as a prime yourself.