The federal government's Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 ends today, and FY2027 starts tomorrow on October 1st. For GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contractors, that means the Q4 spending push is wrapping up and it’s time to think about the “new year”.
In this blog, we'll walk through four areas to focus on as you get your GSA Schedule ready for FY2027, including: modifying your GSA Schedule, researching budget trends, knowing where to find contracting opportunities, and building your strategy for the year.
1. Do You Need to Modify Your GSA Schedule?
Before you can go after FY2027 opportunities, your contract needs to be up to date. Are there any outstanding Mass Modifications, or contract modifications you need to make? Mass Mods are mandatory for all contractors, but if your company has changes to your pricing, products/service offerings, or even something as simple as an address change, you’ll want to start putting those mods in.
Mods won’t generally happen overnight and could take several weeks if there’s something delaying it, depending on Contracting Officer workload, the documentation you provide, and how quickly you respond.
Here are a few recent GSA updates that may impact your modification timeline.
Check for Outstanding Mass Modifications
As mentioned above, Mass Modifications are GSA-initiated and are for all contractors, even if you don’t think some of the changes apply to you. GSA originally planned to release MAS Solicitation Refresh #33 in September, but GSA recently announced they are rescheduling Refresh #33 to October to make sure all updates are fully integrated before release. Once issued, contractors must accept the Refresh #33 Mass Modification no later than 90 days after it is issued.
Get Your EPA Method in Place First
If you plan to add anything or request a price increase in FY2027, check whether you've already incorporated an Economic Price Adjustment (EPA) method and mechanism under the EPA clause GSAR 552.238-120, which was added in Refresh #29. GSA's EPA implementation guidance states that you must submit a Revise Terms and Conditions modification to establish your EPA method before any of three triggering events:
- Submitting an EPA modification request
- Submitting any addition modification (adding a product, labor category, or SIN)
- Exercising an option period or submitting an option-related modification
If you haven't done this yet, it should be first on your list, since it will hold up any other modification you want to make.
2. Research FY2027 Budget Trends
Knowing where federal dollars are going helps you decide where your team will spend the most time on business development strategy. Here's where things stand heading into October:
Agencies Will Start FY2027 Under a Continuing Resolution
On September 2nd, the President signed H.R. 6500, the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2027, which funds federal agencies through December 11, 2026. Federal agencies can use this funding to continue projects and activities that are already in motion, but there won’t be much wiggle room for major new projects if the funding isn’t agreed upon and there’s a lapse. We suggest you use this potential slower time to get your GSA Schedule ready, conduct research, and prepare your marketing plan.
A Glimpse into the White House’s FY2027 Budget Request
The White House released the President's FY2027 Budget Request in April 2026. While we don’t expect Congress to agree on all of the request, it's still a great indicator of the Administration's priorities leading into next year. Here are the highlights:
- Defense: The request asks for $1.5 trillion in total defense budgetary resources, including $1.1 trillion in base for the Department of War and $350 billion in additional mandatory funding. Top investments include Golden Dome missile defense, shipbuilding, critical minerals, homeland security border, drone manufacturing, and AI initiatives.
- Civilian: Civilian spending will be cut by roughly 10%, but we will see individual department increases in The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Justice (DOJ).
- Proposed IT increases: The White House intends to increase Civilian IT spending, setting aside $75.7B, an increase of $7.8B from last year. This is separate from the DoD's IT request.
- Proposed cuts: The largest proposed civilian cuts include the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Housing and Urban Development, and State and International Programs.
Research Agency Awards in FY2026
While budget requests are important to see where spending is heading, it’s equally important to look at what agencies have been procuring lately. We expect to see some changes in spending habits in FY2027, but we know the government doesn’t move fast enough to shift all their spending priorities overnight.
USAspending.gov is a great resource to search government agency awards, as well as budget obligations for FY2027. We also suggest SAM.gov for award data including research on competitors, incumbents, and contract expiration dates. It’s important to note that the FPDS.gov ezSearch tool has been retired, so now all public-facing FPDS functionality has moved to SAM.gov.
3. Know Where to Find FY2027 Opportunities
Ok so you’ve done your research on government spending and have seen which agencies have a need for your products or services. Now what? Your team needs a consistent plan for checking government opportunities. They can pop-up every day, so it’s important you are monitoring the right sites.
We’ll cover a few places to search below.
GSA eBuy
GSA eBuy is where agencies post Requests for Quotes (RFQs), Requests for Information (RFIs), and Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for MAS contractors. These opportunities are unique to GSA Schedule holders, and you will only see opportunities relevant to the Special Item Numbers (SINs) you sell under. This will make it much easier to sift through.
An agency can specifically request a certain contractor’s reply, and you can mark your intention to respond to an opportunity, but you also should assign a team member to check the opportunities daily.
SAM.gov
As mentioned above, SAM.gov is great for searching award data, but it’s also a useful site for upcoming contracting opportunities. You can use the advanced search feature to filter by keywords, North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Codes, response date, locations, business size, target agencies, etc.
Agency Forecasts and the Acquisition Gateway
You can also use forecast tools to see what’s coming up the pipeline. GSA's Forecast of Contracting Opportunities (FCO) tool on the Acquisition Gateway is a governmentwide dashboard that shows planned procurements from participating agencies, sometimes months before a solicitation appears on SAM.gov. Entries will have the agency, estimated solicitation date, NAICS Code, contract type, estimated contract value, whether it's planned as a small business set-aside, and a point of contact.
4. Build Your FY2027 Strategy
This last part is no revolutionary step, but many contractors, especially ones new to the MAS Program, aren’t sure where to start.
Now that you have more information on agency budgets, target agencies, and upcoming opportunities, and your GSA Schedule is updated—what’s next? Don’t forget about your own website and marketing materials. While you should be spending time searching for opportunities, you want to make sure your website is discoverable and has the right information for agencies looking on their end too.
You might be an expert in commercial marketing, but marketing to the government isn’t exactly the same. You need to create government-targeted materials that speak only to the products or services you offer on the GSA Schedule, and that are addressing specific agency needs and missions.
You’ll want to create a strong web presence, which includes creating a specific government page on your site that has your:
- Contract information
- Core competencies
- Past performance
- Differentiators
- Corporate data
- Contact information
- Downloadable case studies and/or whitepapers
- Downloadable government capabilities statements
- Links to your GSA eLibrary and GSA Advantage! pages
- Supported agency logos including GSA Schedule holder logo
You can also use information like your core competencies, past performance, differentiators and corporate data to create a capabilities statement that you can tailor for each relevant agency opportunity.
Are You Ready for FY2027?
The start of a new fiscal year is the best time to take stock of your GSA Schedule. Make sure your contract is compliant and reflects what you sell, understand where agency budgets are headed, set up a routine for tracking opportunities, and build a marketing plan specific to your GSA Schedule.
Keeping up your GSA Schedule on top of all the other business development can be a lot to manage, especially for small businesses. If you need help preparing your GSA Schedule for FY2027 or you are interested in becoming a government contractor, one of our consultants would be happy to help you.
