What Is the Federal Fiscal Year?
The federal fiscal year (FY) runs from October 1 to September 30 and is named for the year it ends: FY2026 ran from October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026.
Fiscal year (FY) in plain English
Agencies plan, budget and report their spending by fiscal year. Contract dollars count in the fiscal year they're obligated, so research pages show spending as FY2024, FY2025 and so on.
Contract activity often rises in the last months of the year, before September 30, when some of an agency's funding expires. If Congress hasn't passed the year's funding by October 1, agencies work under a continuing resolution or shut down, and new work can wait.
Spending data for a year that just ended keeps arriving for weeks, and Defense contracts are published 90 days after they're signed, so FedReady marks the newest year incomplete until it settles.
Related terms
- Obligation (obligated): An obligation is money an agency has legally committed to spend, such as by signing a contract or adding funds to one. Contract spending is counted in obligations.
- Recompete: A recompete is a new competition for work already under contract, held as the current contract ends. It's your chance to take work from the incumbent.
- Period of performance: The period of performance is the time during which a contractor must do the work under a contract, often a base period plus option periods.
Put it to work
Looking for another term? Browse the full glossary or the government contracting glossary guide.
Cyrus Hakimi writes and edits these definitions, using AI tools to help research and draft them, from the FAR, SBA rules and SAM.gov documentation. They're general information, not legal advice. Rules and thresholds change, so confirm the numbers on the official source before you act.