Operating Through a CR Year

A continuing resolution signed September 2, 2026, provided temporary FY2027 funding through December 11, 2026, unless superseded earlier by applicable appropriations. Congress can enact full-year appropriations, extend the CR, or fund some agencies while leaving others unresolved. The risk of another extension into 2027 is real, but it is a planning scenario, not an enacted outcome. In FY2025, a CR enacted December 21, 2024, extended temporary funding through March 14, 2025. A full-year CR enacted March 15 then funded the remainder of the fiscal year, through September 30, 2025.

The money rarely disappears in a CR year. The calendar does. For a company or institution counting on a new solicitation or award in the next two quarters, that timing gap can be the binding constraint.

I have worked through more CRs and shutdowns over the last 20 years than I can easily count, inside federal programs and alongside institutions and companies that depend on them. The pattern repeats: teams that prepare for uncertainty preserve options; teams waiting for a clean appropriations calendar can lose a cycle.

What a CR actually does

A continuing resolution provides temporary appropriations, typically using a prior-year rate of operations, but actual authority depends on the law, account, agency guidance, and exceptions. Three operating realities matter:

1. 01

   Funding rate

   Anticipated FY2027 increases may not yet be available under a temporary funding measure.

2. 02

   New starts

   Restrictions can prevent new programs or production increases, particularly at DoD. Do not assume every new grant, solicitation, existing vehicle, or award is universally frozen.

3. 03

   Anomalies and available funds

   Specific exceptions, prior-year balances, and existing contract or grant authority can change what moves.

The correct question is not whether an agency is ‘open.’ It is which funding source, authority, and decision are actually available for your pursuit.

Where it bites

New solicitations may slip when agencies cannot commit to planned FY2027 activity. Award decisions may bunch later in the year, compressing review, negotiation, and obligation timelines. Defense new starts and production increases are especially exposed. In a January 2026 report, reissued with revisions in February, GAO reported that 36 of 74 DoD acquisition programs surveyed reported schedule effects from continuing resolutions.

Continuing awards, previously obligated work, and some existing vehicles may still progress, but the existence of a vehicle does not itself guarantee funds or an award.

A qualified bright spot: Public Law 119-83, enacted April 13, 2026, reauthorized SBIR and STTR through September 30, 2031. The law also allows participating agencies to use in FY2027 qualifying funds remaining at the end of FY2026 from their required SBIR or STTR expenditures. That creates potential flexibility, not a guarantee of solicitation or award timing.

The playbook

1. Re-sequence the pursuit stack

Review every pursuit against funding authority, readiness, and CR exposure:

1. 01

   Continuing award increments and options

   Generally lower exposure when funding and exercise authority exist. Protect deliverables and reporting.

2. 02

   Existing OT consortia and IDIQ vehicles

   Variable exposure. Prioritize funded opportunities and confirm ordering authority; vehicle existence is not funding.

3. 03

   SBIR/STTR with available carryover

   Medium exposure. Monitor agency notices and submission windows.

4. 04

   New agency solicitations

   Higher timing risk. Prepare materials without building cash forecasts on unannounced awards.

5. 05

   New DoD program lines and production increases

   High exposure absent exceptions or new authority. Prepare the case for full-year appropriations.

The common mistake is to preserve the original pursuit mix and wait. Waiting is a decision. Make it deliberately.

2. Protect runway

Rebuild the cash plan with a downside scenario in which a new federal award arrives six months later than originally assumed. Six months is a stress test, not a prediction. Test three questions: What private, strategic, or internal bridge covers the gap? What spend can be paused without destroying execution capacity? What do investors and partners need to hear now about the timeline? If the plan only works on the original calendar, label it as a timing bet.

3. Use the delay

Finish validation and customer evidence. Secure teaming and cost-share commitments where appropriate. Map proposed work to published agency priorities and reviewer criteria. Prepare budgets, registrations, compliance materials, and draft technical packages. Funding authority can move faster than a team starting from zero. Be ready to respond, not merely first to click submit.

If it becomes a shutdown

A lapse in appropriations differs from a CR. Agency activities, staffing, reviews, and new obligations may be affected, while work under already obligated awards may be able to continue subject to terms and agency instructions. Inventory obligated versus pending funding; confirm with the contracting or grants officer whether work and invoicing can continue; submit time-sensitive materials early and monitor agency contingency guidance. Do not assume every portal or staff contact will remain available.

The bottom line

CR years reward operators who manage federal funding as a capital stack. Each dollar has a purpose, timeline, dependency, and fallback. The next ninety days are a preparation window: re-sequence pursuits, protect runway, and close the evidence gaps. When full-year funding or another usable authority becomes available, be ready to execute.