Index › Federal › No-tender rate
The no-tender rate
29.3% of labelled federal awards are made without competition. The yearly series fell to 23.7% by 2018 — then climbed back to 32.7%.
Per-year table
| Year | No-tender rate | Change vs 2015 |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 32.8% | +0.0 pp |
| 2016 | 28.8% | -4.0 pp |
| 2017 | 23.8% | -9.0 pp |
| 2018 | 23.7% | -9.1 pp |
| 2019 | 27.1% | -5.7 pp |
| 2020 | 30.0% | -2.8 pp |
| 2021 | 28.5% | -4.3 pp |
| 2022 | 28.9% | -3.9 pp |
| 2023 | 30.3% | -2.5 pp |
| 2024 | 32.5% | -0.3 pp |
| 2025 | 32.0% | -0.8 pp |
| 2026 | 32.7% | -0.1 pp |
A U-shaped decade
Among award records that carry a procedure label, 29.3% were awarded without a competitive process. The yearly series is U-shaped. The non-competitive share fell from 32.8% in 2015 to a low of 23.7% in 2018, then climbed almost every year to 32.7% in 2026 — erasing the entire gain of the mid-2010s and returning to roughly the 2015 level.
The reversal began before the pandemic (30.0% in 2020) and continued after it, with 2024–2026 holding steady above 32%. Whatever drove the 2015–2018 improvement did not persist; on this measure the competitive share of federal contracting is back where it started the decade.
The denominator is records with a recorded solicitation procedure (871,256 of 1,313,281). Unlabelled records are excluded from both numerator and denominator. 2026 is partial.
Competitive and non-competitive awards are separated in live tracking in PubSec.Pro.