Where Colorado's defense contract dollars go

Headline findings

1. DoD put $46.47B of contract obligations into work performed in Colorado over FY2021–FY2025, rising every year from $8.25B to $10.09B.
2. The Department of the Air Force (which includes Space Force contracting) obligated 59% of it. DLA, the agency that buys most spare parts, accounted for $701.3M (2%) of dollars but 86% of the job-shop-type awards counted below.
3. Most of the money buys R&D, engineering and services. Manufacturing NAICS codes (31–33) were 19% of obligations ($8.92B). Two codes, guided missile and space vehicle manufacturing (336414) and aircraft manufacturing (336411), made up $6.78B (76%) of that, which is mostly prime-level system work.
4. We found 3,769 new job-shop-type contract awards (metal parts, fasteners, aircraft and vehicle parts, hardware) performed in Colorado in FY2021–FY2025, about 753 a year. 2,661 went to small businesses.
5. These are mostly small orders. The median small-business award was $3K, and 97% were under $250K. Of the 2,557 small-business awards with a positive value, only 31 were over $1M.
6. Among 111 Colorado-based small businesses that won these awards, the median firm averaged $22K/year. The top quarter averaged $72K/year or more, and the top 10% averaged $358K/year or more.
7. Subcontracts are the bigger door. 10,991 first-tier subcontracts were reported for Colorado work, and the median of the 10,000 largest was $113K. Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman alone reported 3,527 of them. Primes must flow CMMC requirements down to suppliers that handle FCI or CUI.
8. Colorado shows only a mild fiscal-year-end rush. September was 10% of FY2021–FY2025 dollars, compared with 8.3% if spending were spread evenly, but May was the biggest month at 12%. Job-shop-type awards are more seasonal: August and September together had 21% of the awards, compared with 17% if spread evenly.

"Job-shop-type awards" means new DoD contract awards with Colorado place of performance and either a fabricated-metal, machinery or aerospace-parts NAICS code (3321–3329, 3335, 336412, 336413, 336415, 336419) or a hardware product PSC group (10, 15, 16, 20, 25, 28–31, 34, 47, 48, 53, 95). The exact method is at the bottom of the page.

Total DoD contract obligations in Colorado

FY2026 is partial. DoD contract data is published with a 90-day delay, so FY2026 here covers Oct 2025 through Jul 2026 only.

By military service or agency

USAspending reports Space Force contracts under the Department of the Air Force. Contracting offices such as Space Systems Command can award work that is performed in Colorado.

What's being bought

Across all Colorado DoD contracts, the biggest categories are R&D, engineering services, space vehicles and aircraft. Products (PSC codes starting with a digit) made up 19% of obligations, and services made up the rest. The rows highlighted in blue are manufacturing NAICS (31–33) or product PSC codes.

Job-shop-type awards: most common codes

Recent small-business awards ($25K–$1M) in the job-shop set

Real examples of product orders (product PSC codes only) won by small businesses, newest first.

Who's winning

Largest DoD contractors working in Colorado (all categories)

These primes are the main subcontracting targets. A shop that machines or fabricates parts for them will see CMMC requirements in their purchase orders when the work involves FCI or CUI.

Colorado-based small businesses winning job-shop-type awards (by dollars)

Most frequent Colorado small-business winners (by number of awards)

Of the 3,769 job-shop-type awards, 94% went to companies whose registered address is in Colorado. "Small business" means the recipient was flagged as a small business on the award.

How big the awards are

Size is the award's total obligated amount as reported, including later modifications. 292 awards with $0 or negative totals (for example, deobligations) are left out of the size counts. A few very large prime awards, such as Sierra Nevada's $3.42B Survivable Airborne Operations Center award, land in this set because of their aircraft PSC codes. That is why total dollars are skewed while the counts and medians are not.

How often, and when

About 753 job-shop-type awards a year (FY2021: 653, FY2022: 665, FY2023: 559, FY2024: 804, FY2025: 1,088). DLA issues most of them as small purchase orders, so they arrive all year, though August and September are the busiest months (21% of awards). Colorado dollars overall don't show a big September spike: May is the largest month.

The fiscal year runs October through September. In the dollar chart, September is 10% of the five-year total, July–September is 26%, and May is the largest month at 12%. Single large awards drive these month-to-month swings.

Where in Colorado

El Paso County covers Colorado Springs, Peterson and Schriever Space Force Bases, Fort Carson and the Air Force Academy. Douglas and Arapahoe counties hold the Littleton, Highlands Ranch and Centennial aerospace corridor, including Lockheed Martin Space and United Launch Alliance. Jefferson County (Golden, Arvada, Lakewood) is the nearest cluster to the foothills.

Subcontracts: selling to the primes

Primes report their first-tier subcontracts over $30K to USAspending. 10,991 subcontracts were reported for Colorado-performed DoD work in FY2021–FY2025. This page uses the 10,000 largest (the API returns at most 10,000; the rest are each under $14K). The median of those was $113K, so the true median of all reported subcontracts is slightly lower.

Primes reporting the most Colorado subcontracts

Subcontracts that mention machining, fabrication or assemblies

A keyword search of subcontract descriptions (machining, fabrication, CNC, sheet metal, welding, fixtures, tooling, brackets, housings, chassis, enclosures, castings, forgings, harnesses, assemblies) found 654 subcontracts with a median of $99K. The newest:

Subcontract reporting is incomplete. Primes self-report only first-tier subs over $30K, and reports often arrive late (few FY2025 subcontracts have been reported so far). Lower-tier suppliers, which is where many job shops sit, don't show up at all.

CMMC in plain English

DoD's own cost estimates (from the final rule, small entity)

These DoD estimates (89 FR 83092) cover only assessment and affirmation. They don't include fixing gaps, such as MFA, logging, encryption, a CUI enclave, or policies, which is often the bigger cost. Get quotes for your own scope.

What a shop could realistically win (estimate)

Method: We took the 3,769 job-shop-type awards and kept those that went to small businesses with a Colorado address. We added up each firm's award totals for FY2021–FY2025 and divided by 5 to get an average per year. That gives 111 firms.

How to read it: A typical small Colorado shop that wins direct DoD part orders in this category averages about $22K a year. Only 23 of the 111 firms averaged $100K or more a year, and 44 averaged $35K or more. Prime-contract revenue alone rarely covers a Level 2 program. Compare the median with a Level 1 self-assessment, which DoD estimates at about $6K a year, and with Level 2, which is roughly $12K–$35K a year when DoD's three-year estimates are spread out, before any remediation.

The bigger opportunity is subcontracts. The median of the 10,000 largest reported first-tier subcontracts for Colorado work was $113K, and machining and fabrication subcontracts had a median of $99K. One steady supplier relationship with a large prime can be worth more than years of DLA purchase orders, and those primes are the ones flowing Level 2 requirements down to suppliers.

Limits: this undercounts revenue because it misses subcontracts, work for out-of-state primes and lower-tier supply. It also overstates some firms because award totals include later modifications. And because it only counts firms that won something, it says nothing about the odds of winning.

Next steps for a Colorado shop

1. Register in SAM.gov (free) to get a UEI and CAGE code, and list your NAICS codes (e.g., 332710 Machine Shops, 332721, 332722, 333514 Special Die & Tool, 336413). sam.gov
2. Get on DLA DIBBS, where DLA posts the small spare-parts RFQs behind most of the awards above. You can search by NSN and PSC (53xx hardware, 16xx aircraft parts, 25xx vehicle parts, 47xx pipe and fittings). dibbs.bsm.dla.mil
3. Do the Level 1 self-assessment now (FAR 52.204-21, 15 controls) and post it in SPRS. It's cheap, it's required today, and it shows primes you're ready.
4. Decide on Level 2 based on CUI. If your target customers send controlled drawings, plan for NIST SP 800-171 and a Level 2 self-assessment. Watch for when the C3PAO requirement returns.
5. Register in prime supplier portals, for example Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Sierra Nevada, Boeing, RTX/Raytheon and L3Harris, and target the primes listed in the subcontract table above.
6. Use the free Colorado APEX Accelerator (formerly PTAC) for one-on-one counseling, bid matching and CMMC guidance: coloradoapex.org, 720-699-3028 / 719-431-8028.
7. Track opportunities on SAM.gov Contract Opportunities and use USAspending to research past buyers of your part types.

Method, sources and caveats

• USAspending.gov API, api.usaspending.gov (endpoints: spending_over_time, spending_by_category, spending_by_award, spending_by_award_count). Pulled November 13, 2026.
• Filters: awarding agency = Department of Defense; place of performance = Colorado; contract award types A–D (BPA calls, purchase orders, delivery orders, definitive contracts). Window: FY2021–FY2025 (Oct 1, 2020–Sep 30, 2025) unless noted.
• Explore the same data yourself: USAspending Advanced Search. Raw JSON used to build this page: summary.json, derived.json, awards_core_naics.json, awards_hardware_psc.json, subawards_co.json.
• CMMC rules: DoD CIO, About CMMC; Phase II suspension memo; DFARS 252.204-7021; cost estimates from the CMMC Program final rule, 89 FR 83092 (Oct 15, 2024).

• Place of performance, not company address. Dollars are counted where the work is performed (Colorado). Some Colorado-performed awards go to out-of-state companies, and Colorado companies also do work in other states that isn't counted here.
• Obligations, not payments. Amounts are obligations (money committed) recorded by action date. Award-size figures use each award's total obligated amount as reported.
• Classified and some sensitive spending isn't shown in USAspending, which matters in Colorado's space and intelligence work. DoD data also appears with a 90-day delay.
• Subcontract data is incomplete: only first-tier subcontracts over $30K are reported, and they're often late.
• Job-shop-type set: new awards (start date in FY2021–FY2025) matching NAICS 3321, 3322, 3323, 3324, 3325, 3326, 3327, 3328, 3329, 3335, 336412, 336413, 336415, 336419 OR PSC groups 10, 15, 16, 20, 25, 28, 29, 30, 31, 34, 47, 48, 53, 95. Some services or large systems coded with those PSCs are included, which is why we use counts and medians.
• "Small business" is the recipient business-type flag on each award. Set-aside share uses the award set-aside type (small business, 8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB, WOSB/EDWOSB and similar).

Draft prepared November 13, 2026. Not legal or compliance advice.