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How to read a federal award
Status tags before dollars. Face is not cash. A headline is not a fillable trade. Not investment advice.
FINAL
A finalized award or Definitive Funding Agreement (DFA). Still read the official notice for ceilings, options, and payment schedules. "Up to" is a ceiling.
Letter of Intent (LOI)
An LOI signals intent to fund; it is not the same as a FINAL DFA. Example: the Jul 29 2026 $874M seven-company CHIPS LOI package (GlobalFoundries / GFS up to $300M verified). See LOI vs FINAL finding.
Undefinitized contract action (UCA)
Work can start before all terms are set. Always compare obligated cash to face value. PAC-3 MSE showed $53.86B face and $0 obligated on the modification. See PAC-3 finding.
Obligated vs face
Obligated is the amount the government has committed on the instrument you are reading. Face (or total estimated value) can be much larger. FedForge surfaces both when the source does.
Announcement-to-now returns
When we show a %, it is close-to-close from the announcement session to our as-of close in data/returns.json. Most rows in that file were negative. That is a trust feature, not a pitch. Red-after-announcement.
Not investment advice.