Forecasts
Forecasts is for work agencies have said they intend to buy, before anything is solicited — the window where a conversation with the customer and a teaming decision can still change the outcome. Watch a planned procurement, start a pursuit while it can still be shaped, and be told the day it becomes a real solicitation.
Agency forecasts are not collected yet
Each agency publishes its own procurement forecast and there is no common public source, so the platform does not collect forecasts today. Until it does, the Forecasts screen has nothing to list, and the Watching list and forecast alerts have nothing to act on. Everything below describes how the screen works once forecast data is available. See Where the data comes from.
TL;DR — Open Find work → Forecasts. Browse All forecasts or By agency, open one to read the requirement and timing, and choose Watch. Start pursuing this opens a pursuit now; it moves onto the real solicitation by itself when the agency advertises it.
The three tabs
| Field | What it does | Accepted values / default |
|---|---|---|
| All forecasts | Every planned procurement still ahead (planned or revised), with expected date, lead time, estimated value and current holder. | Filter by agency, NAICS code, status and expected-date range, or search the text. |
| By agency | Agencies ranked by how much planned work they have, with how many carry an estimate and the earliest expected date. | See this agency's plans filters the list to one agency. |
| Watching | The forecasts your workspace watches, with why. | Watching is a workspace decision, not a private bookmark. |
Timing bands
| Field | What it does | Accepted values / default |
|---|---|---|
| Early | More than 180 days out. | Worth knowing about, not worth staffing yet. |
| Shaping window | 31 to 180 days out. | Far enough out that customer contact and teaming still change the outcome. |
| Closing in | 30 days or fewer. | The requirement is effectively frozen. Prepare to respond. |
| Past its date | The agency's estimate has passed and nothing has been solicited. | Worth chasing the contracting officer. |
A forecast's page
The page shows The work, What the agency wants (codes, contract vehicle, competition type, current holder), Expected timing (when it should be advertised and awarded, lead time), and Who to talk to. Before a solicitation is published you can usually still discuss the requirement with the agency; once it is published, that is normally no longer allowed.
Watching and converting
- Watch puts the forecast on the workspace's watch list, with an optional note — Why you are watching this. Stop watching removes it. Business Development Users, Proposal Managers, Managers and Capture Administrators can watch and unwatch.
- When a watched forecast becomes a real solicitation, the colleague who started watching it is told (Now out for bid), with a link straight to the solicitation, and the forecast shows Open the solicitation.
- Start pursuing this opens a pursuit now, while the requirement can still be shaped. On the day the agency advertises the work, the pursuit moves onto the real solicitation by itself, and its deadline and agency are filled in.
- If the forecast has already been advertised, the button reads Add the solicitation to the pipeline and the pursuit tracks the live solicitation from the start.
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