If you want to know when a government contract ends, start with the contract notice. For federal work, that notice is on AusTender. The end date is printed on it. It is the most useful date you have, and it is still not a promise that the work stops that day.

This guide is about finding that date, reading the bits that can change it, and then listing the contracts that end in the window you care about. The longer explanation of what officials weigh before they extend or go back to market is in when federal contracts end. The field-by-field tour of a notice is in how to read an AusTender contract notice.

Where the end date appears

Open the contract notice and look at Contract Period. That line has a start date and an end date. The end date is when the work is expected to be finished. The publish date, higher up the notice, is only when the notice appeared. It is not the end date.

Two other fields sit next to the period, and they matter just as much:

  • Extension Options. How many options to extend the contract were written in when it was signed.
  • Max End Date. The latest date the contract could run to if every one of those options is used.

If the end date and the maximum end date are the same, there is no unused option left on the notice. If the maximum end date is later, the agency can still choose to run the contract further. That choice belongs to the agency, not to you.

Why an amendment can change the date and the value

Agencies report changes to a contract as amendments. A later notice for the same contract number can move the end date out, or raise the value, when an option is used or the contract is varied. The current end date on the notice is the one to trust for "when does this finish now". The first end date that was published can already be out of date.

The value works the same way. The figure on the notice is the total committed so far, not a yearly amount, and it grows when an amendment is reported. Our guide to reading a contract notice walks through how those amendments are listed.

Why the original end date is not the last word

An original end date is the date the contract was given when it started. It does not include extension options that have not been used. Finance's guidance on contract end dates (opens in a new tab) also says the end date does not have to be the day the last piece of work is delivered. Time is often left for invoices and for the next arrangement.

So three different readings can all be true at once:

  • The original end date is what was agreed at the start.
  • The current end date is what the latest notice says.
  • The maximum end date is how far the contract could still run if every option is taken up.

None of those is a promise that a new tender will open. The agency can extend, vary the contract for a short time, buy through a panel, or go back to market. You are reading the public record so you can prepare, not predicting the decision.

Listing contracts that end in the next 6 to 12 months

On the contracts list, the window filter is how you choose which end dates to see. The choices run from the next few months out to 12 months. For work that is far enough away to prepare for, and close enough to be real, use 6–12 months. To see everything that ends within a year, use 0–12 months. There is no filter that stops at 18 months. The expiry calendar on the same page covers the next 24 months, so you can see the shape of later months without pretending the list goes that far.

You can narrow the same list by agency, by category, by value, and by keywords in the description. The usual view hides flagged rows, such as 30 June financial-year end dates and apparent duplicates. Leave that on unless you have a reason to look at them.

Once you have a contract worth planning around, a 12-month plan for a federal re-tender is a calm way to use the time.

The contracts list is the practical next step. Filter to 6–12 months, then to your category. The notice on AusTender is still the record to check.

Contract Horizon is an independent reading of the public record. It is not part of AusTender or the Australian Government.