Small Business Defense Contractors: The Teaming Window Before FY26 Closes

Defense Signals™ | Capture & Positioning Signals

THE SIGNAL

FY26 is not a future planning cycle. It is the active procurement environment. Small businesses that are still building their teaming pipeline are competing for slots that primes have already filled with firms they worked with last year.

The teaming window for FY26 major pursuits is closing. For FY27, it opened three months ago.

WHAT THE SIGNALS SHOW

1. Primes Finalize Teams Early Large defense primes identify teaming partners 12 to 18 months before RFP release for major contracts. By the time a solicitation is posted on SAM.gov, most competitive teams are already assembled. If you're responding to the posting, you're responding to the public signal — not the acquisition signal.

2. Set-Aside Positioning Is Competitive WOSB, SDVOSB, and 8(a) set-asides are not guaranteed revenue. They are competitive vehicles. Small businesses that treat their socioeconomic status as a differentiator without pairing it with demonstrated past performance and technical capability are losing to firms that have both.

3. Capability Gaps Are Closing Through Teaming Small businesses with narrow capability profiles are increasingly uncompetitive as prime-led teams. The firms winning as small business primes on mid-size awards are those who closed capability gaps through subcontractor teaming before the RFP required them to.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU

If you don't have active teaming conversations happening right now for FY27 pursuits, you are behind the procurement signal. Identify your top three target opportunities for FY27. Map the prime contractors most likely to pursue them. Start the conversation before the solicitation gives you a reason to.

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Defense Signals™ | Capture & Positioning Signals