Flags /

Under 5% of obligated dollars disbursed at least halfway through the period of performance

The government promised this money a while ago, but almost none of it has actually been paid out yet, even though the work period is at least half over. That is normal for things built slowly — ships, buildings, long research — and sometimes worth a closer look for things that are not.

Rule outlay_lag (methodology v1.3.0) — 121 awards, complete set, sortable. Definition and caveats

Evaluable population as of FY2026 P9: 2,737 awards carry linked File C outlay data; 1,100 of those meet the rule’s $1,000,000 obligation floor; 655 have also reached its timing gates (at least one year and at least half the period of performance elapsed). Awards outside these gates are not evaluated — the flag count is a statement about this population, not about federal spending at large.