What is FPDS-NG (Federal Procurement Data System)?
FPDS-NG is the official federal database of every contract action over $10,000 since 2004 — awards, modifications, task orders, and terminations. It's the primary source for federal contract research: who won what, how much, and from which agency. Public and free.
The Federal Procurement Data System - Next Generation (FPDS-NG) is the mandatory reporting system where federal agencies record every contract action. Data goes back to 2004 (previous system data goes back to 1979 with less consistency). It captures award actions, modifications, delivery orders, task orders, and terminations across all federal contracting.
What FPDS-NG records: - Awardee (vendor name, DUNS/UEI, size classification) - Awarding agency and sub-agency - NAICS code and product/service code (PSC) - Contract value (award amount + all modifications) - Contract type (firm-fixed-price, cost-plus, IDIQ, BOA, etc.) - Place of performance - Small business set-aside category (if any) - Congressional district - Solicitation number (for cross-referencing to SAM.gov opportunities)
Why FPDS-NG matters for vendor research: - Competitive intelligence: see what an incumbent has been paid, how many mods they've received, and their agency-specific track record. Great input for bid pricing and win-theme development. - Pipeline research: identify agencies with high spending in your NAICS code that you're not yet serving. - Sub-award research: for large primes, FPDS-NG shows subcontract obligations reported by the prime — useful for identifying prime-to-sub relationships. - Historical rate benchmarking: for T&M contracts, sort by NAICS code + labor category to see what similar work has paid in the past.
Access paths: - Public web search at fpds.gov (limited free interface). - USASpending.gov consumes FPDS-NG data plus federal financial assistance data and provides more user-friendly search and visualization. - FPDS-NG XML/Atom feeds for programmatic access — used by aggregators, market intelligence firms, and research tools.
Limitations: - Doesn't include grants (those are in USASpending's assistance data set). - Small purchases under $10K are not reported (excluded from most FPDS-NG data). - Classified contracts are typically reported with less detail (agency and vendor may be redacted). - Reporting lag: contract actions typically appear in FPDS-NG within 30-60 days of the award action. - Data quality varies: contracting-officer entry errors are common in specific fields (NAICS, place of performance).