Whose Market Research Actually Stopped?
Today's free census measured the 42-day lapse at the Army, Navy and Air Force. The other half of the department splits in two: the five defense agencies that write requirements by hand lost more than half their market research, and DLA did not lose any. Which one you sell to decides what December 11 costs you.
Five defense agencies posted 15 sources sought notices in November 2025.
Not fifteen each. Fifteen between them.
DISA, DHA, NGA, Washington Headquarters Services and DoDEA had run 48 the previous November and 32 the November before that. Appropriations were in their second lapsed month, and the layer where a requirement first becomes visible to industry had gone close to dark.
Today's free piece measured the same window at the Army, Navy and Air Force and found market research cut roughly in half while solicitations kept going out. The fourth estate is the half that census left alone, and it does not behave as one thing.
The split is not where the org chart puts it
Across October and November 2025 those five agencies posted 39 sources sought notices against 81 in the same two months a year earlier, down 51.9%. The military departments ran 47.0% down over the identical window (chart below).
Treat those two as one number. At 39 notices the gap between them is noise.
Then there is DLA.
The Defense Logistics Agency posted 303 sources sought in October 2025, against 273 the previous October and 325 the one before. November came in at 228 against 309 and 227.
The two months together: 531 against 582, down 8.8%.
The lapse is not in that series. You would not find it if you did not already know the dates.
The rest of this brief is for subscribers.
The specific solicitations, dockets, and dates to act on sit past this line.
$50 a month, or $500 a year.
Already a subscriber? Sign in