Public Spend Forum
Public Spend Forum is a Washington, D.C.-based market intelligence platform providing validated supplier, supply chain, and emerging-technology intelligence for U.S. defense, federal, and regional government buyers through its GovShop platform, Rapid Market Intelligence Sprints, and AI tools like AskPSF.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2015
- HeadquartersWashington, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Public Spend Forum does
Public Spend Forum (PSF) is a Washington, D.C.-headquartered market intelligence company founded in 2015 that provides validated, decision-grade intelligence on government markets, defense supply chains, and emerging technology ecosystems. Its core platform, GovShop, covers 5M+ suppliers and 180M+ documents and is paired with proprietary matching algorithms (OntologyMatch, EntityMatch, SpendMatch, ProgramMatch) and a Global Expert Network of 200+ senior domain specialists. PSF delivers its intelligence through Rapid Market Intelligence Sprints (1-Day Lite, 2-Week Full, or Custom), self-service tools (AskPSF generative AI Q&A, AI-Powered Market Report Generator, Innovation Ecosystem Dashboards, OpenSearch), and supporting sub-brands including GovAIRS (supplier programs), GovLABS (prime contractor support), and GovMarket Growth Accelerator (underserved vendor access).
The company serves defense and national security innovation teams (Defense Innovation Unit, Air Force Research Laboratory, National Security program offices), federal R&D program offices (NSF), prime contractors, venture capital and investment firms, state and regional economic development organizations, and emerging technology suppliers. Customers span agencies including DIU, AFRL, the Air Force Installation Contracting Agency, the Defense Logistics Agency, and the Naval Postgraduate School. Raj Sharma (also CEO of Censeo Consulting) leads the company as Founder and CEO; Dr. Steve Kelman (Harvard) joined the Board of Advisors.
PSF generates revenue through a hybrid model: annual Market Insights Ecosystem subscriptions, monthly GovShop AI-powered plans, usage-based PSF Credits, a la carte Sprint purchases, and custom advisory engagements. Go-to-market combines direct enterprise field sales for Sprints and advisory work, self-service/PLG motion for GovShop plans, and channel partnerships (notably the GovMarket Growth Accelerator with The Shatter Fund and infrastructure support via AWS). Pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed. The company has a modest geographic footprint — Washington D.C. (headquarters), Chicago, and Camberley, UK (European presence established 2016) — and operates primarily across U.S. federal and state government markets.
Public Spend Forum firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Public Spend Forum
- Legal name
- Public Spend Forum LLC
- Website
- https://publicspendforum.net
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2015
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Public Spend Forum is a Washington, D.C.-based market intelligence platform providing validated supplier, supply chain, and emerging-technology intelligence for U.S. defense, federal, and regional government buyers through its GovShop platform, Rapid Market Intelligence Sprints, and AI tools like AskPSF.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Public Spend Forum industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Government Market Intelligence
- NAICS
- Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (541910), Marketing Consulting Services (541613)
- SIC
- Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Data, Analytics & AI Consulting (BPAHAEAF)
Keywords
Where Public Spend Forum is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Washington
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices3 records
Markets served
Public Spend Forum business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Market Intelligence Subscriptions: Subscription-based access to PSF's Market Intelligence Ecosystem including Innovation Ecosystem Dashboards, AskPSF Q&A, and Market Briefs. PSF Credits are used as currency for accessing various features and services within the platform.
- Rapid Market Intelligence Sprints: On-demand custom analysis sprints available as 1-Day Lite, 2-Week Full Sprint, or Custom Sprint. Can be purchased a-la-carte or through Market Insights Subscription. Delivered as living intelligence with refreshed data.
- Market and Supply Chain Advisory Services: In-depth studies and market/supply chain advisory services delivered by Analysts, SMEs and strategic partners to support strategic needs and critical priorities.
- AI-Powered Reports and Data Exports: Credits-based system for generating custom market reports, viewing detailed supplier/investor profiles, and exporting lists. Users pay for consumption of specific services.
- GovShop AI Market Intelligence Plans: AI-Powered Market Intelligence plans leveraging proprietary matching engine with data on 2M+ suppliers for rapid discovery of emerging and diverse suppliers.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Pay-as-you-go | Lite Sprint - One-day rapid insights sprint |
| Subscription | Pay-as-you-go | Full Sprint - Two-week deep dive sprint |
| Subscription | Pay-as-you-go | Custom Sprint - Designed to meet specific challenges and timelines |
| Subscription | Annual | Market Insights Ecosystem Subscription |
| Subscription | Monthly | GovShop AI-Powered Market Intelligence Plans |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels8 records
Public Spend Forum product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Public Spend Forum combines human analysts and subject matter experts with AI-powered tools (AI-MI) to deliver validated, decision-grade market intelligence on government markets, supply chains, and emerging technologies. Its core offering centers on Rapid Market Intelligence Sprints (1-Day Lite, 2-Week Full, or Custom) paired with a self-service Market Insights Ecosystem that includes generative AI Q&A (AskPSF), AI-Powered Market Report Generator, Innovation Ecosystem Dashboards, and OpenSearch across 5M+ suppliers. Customers include defense innovation units, federal R&D program offices, prime contractors, investors, and regional economic development organizations.
Product overview
Public Spend Forum operates a multi-product market intelligence ecosystem centered on GovShop, an AI-enabled platform providing supplier discovery and market analysis for government markets. The core offering combines Rapid Market Intelligence Sprints (available as 1-day Lite, 2-week Full, or Custom formats) with self-service tools including AskPSF (generative AI Q&A), the AI-Powered Market Report Generator, Innovation Ecosystem Dashboards, and OpenSearch. Supporting products include GovAIRS (supplier programs), GovLABS (prime contractor support), Assisted Market Research, the GovMarket Growth Accelerator for underserved companies, and a Global Expert Network. All offerings are powered by AI-MI (AI for Market Intelligence) combining analyst expertise with proprietary data and matching algorithms across 5M+ suppliers.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- GovShop: AI-enabled market intelligence platform for the public sector providing supplier discovery, contract data, and market research tools.
- GovAIRS
- GovLABS
- AskPSF
Products and services
- GovShop AI-enabled market intelligence platform for the public sector that provides supplier discovery, contract intelligence, and market analysis across government markets, covering over 2 million suppliers with 180M+ documents.
- Rapid Market Intelligence Sprints On-demand market intelligence analysis available in 1-Day Lite, 2-Week Full, or Custom Sprint formats, combining analyst expertise with AI-powered workflows to deliver validated market insights.
- AskPSF Generative AI Q&A tool that uses only validated data to answer questions about companies, markets, and supply chains, eliminating hallucinations and unreliable data.
- AI-Powered Market Report Generator Custom market report generation capability backed by PSF's deep proprietary data, generating detailed reports in minutes based on user-specified lists and criteria.
- Innovation Ecosystem Dashboards Interactive dashboards for monitoring and analyzing market trends, capital flows, and regional innovation ecosystems, with customizable views and data visualization.
- Assisted Market Research AI-powered market intelligence microservice combining GovShop's proprietary AI-matching engine with continuously updated data on over 2 million suppliers for rapid supplier discovery.
- GovAIRS Supplier programs and subscriptions providing growth support and reduced time to revenue for suppliers in the government market.
- GovLABS Market data and programs for prime contractors to identify and support emerging and diverse suppliers.
- GovMarket Growth Accelerator Program in partnership with Shatter Fund helping women-led, diverse, and underserved companies accelerate growth in government markets through coaching, AI-matching, and market intelligence access.
- Market Insights Ecosystem Subscription Annual subscription providing access to Sprints plus Market Insights Tools including Innovation Ecosystem Dashboards, AskPSF Q&A, and Market Briefs for enterprise clients.
Quantifiable outcome
- Rapid intelligence delivery in as little as one day vs traditional months-long research
- +5 more outcomes
Companies that use Public Spend Forum
Customer profileNamed customers20 records
Segments6 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Public Spend Forum technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability6 records
Feature10 records
Public Spend Forum partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.
- FandesminorE-commerce marketplace partnership for launch of PPE and COVID-19 Tech Products marketplace providing growing list of PPE, testing kits, and COVID-19-related technology products from vetted suppliers.
- XPDELminorNationwide network of eCommerce fulfillment centers partnered with GovShop and Fandes for order fulfillment of PPE marketplace.
- NC State University - Supply Chain Resource CooperativecorePartnership with NC State University's Supply Chain Resource Cooperative to launch COVID-19 Supplier Survey to map and verify suppliers for COVID-19 equipment and supplies. Joint research efforts focused on understanding supplier capacity, verifying suppliers, and developing network optimization models.
- DcodeminorPartnership with Dcode and Shatter Fund to launch Public Procurement Technology Innovation Labs, with launch event in Los Angeles in collaboration with Office of the Mayor.
- ShatterFundcorePartnership between The Shatter Fund and Public Spend Forum's GovMarket Growth Accelerator to help women-led, underserved and emerging companies accelerate their growth in the government market. Provides coaching, brand/community building, AI-matching technology, and market intelligence access.
- Bunker LabsminorBunker Labs - Veteran entrepreneurship organization partnered with PSF for events and ecosystem development supporting veteran-founded companies in government markets.
- AWS (Amazon Web Services)coreAWS partnership providing cloud infrastructure support for PSF's AI-powered market intelligence platform and GovShop ecosystem.
- FedTechminorFedTech - Federal technology accelerator partnered with PSF for events and market intelligence sharing focused on federal innovation ecosystem.
- Mass ChallengeminorMass Challenge - Startup accelerator partnered with PSF for events and market intelligence to support emerging technology companies in government markets.
- NIGP (National Institute of Government Purchasing)minorNIGP - Public procurement professional association partnered with PSF for events and content sharing on procurement best practices.
- AHRMM (Association for Health Care Resource & Materials Management)minorAHRMM - Healthcare supply chain association partnered with PSF for healthcare procurement market intelligence and events.
- SAFETECHminorSAFETECH - Safety technology organization partnered with PSF for events and market intelligence on safety-related government procurement.
Scale indicators10 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Public Spend Forum competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Booz Allen Hamilton: Booz Allen Hamilton provides defense and federal consulting including supply chain and emerging tech market intelligence — a broad incumbent serving the same buyers as PSF with much larger resources.
- SAIC: SAIC is a large federal services and IT integrator that performs defense supply chain and market analysis internally — comparable as a broad incumbent operating in the same government/defense intelligence space as PSF.
Others
- Mitre Corporation: Mitre operates federally funded R&D centers producing strategic technology and supply chain analysis for defense and homeland security — adjacent to PSF's defense innovation intelligence work, though delivered as a not-for-profit.
Direct peers
- GovWin IQ (Deltek): GovWin IQ is the dominant subscription intelligence platform for government contracting opportunities, contract history, and agency profiles — the closest direct competitor to PSF's GovShop and Sprint products for both primes and emerging suppliers.
- Onvia (a Deltek company): Onvia aggregates government procurement solicitations and supplier intelligence for businesses pursuing public-sector contracts — highly comparable to PSF's supplier discovery and demand signal offerings.
- Bloomberg Government: Bloomberg Government provides policy, budget, and contracting intelligence to government affairs and capture teams, directly overlapping with PSF's federal market intelligence and program-office mapping use cases.
- DS Federal: DS Federal is a government IT services and consulting firm that supports federal agencies with data analytics, market research, and supply chain intelligence — directly comparable to PSF's advisory and sprint offerings.
- Eagle Eye Publishers: Eagle Eye Publishers produces GovCon market intelligence reports, including competitor pipelines and agency forecasts — comparable to PSF's analyst-led Sprint research in the defense innovation space.
- GovSpend: GovSpend tracks government spending transactions, contracts, and procurement data — overlapping with PSF's contract intelligence and supplier spend analysis offerings for government buyers and suppliers.
- Federal Sources (Maximus): Federal Sources produces market research and competitive intelligence on the federal IT and government services market — directly comparable to PSF's subscription research and supplier ecosystem mapping capabilities.
Market position
Strengths1 record
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Public Spend Forum social profiles
Digital presencePublic Spend Forum financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Public Spend Forum leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Public Spend Forum funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Public Spend Forum M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Public Spend Forum
What does Public Spend Forum do?
Public Spend Forum combines human analysts and subject matter experts with AI-powered tools (AI-MI) to deliver validated, decision-grade market intelligence on government markets, supply chains, and emerging technologies. Its core offering centers on Rapid Market Intelligence Sprints (1-Day Lite, 2-Week Full, or Custom) paired with a self-service Market Insights Ecosystem that includes generative AI Q&A (AskPSF), AI-Powered Market Report Generator, Innovation Ecosystem Dashboards, and OpenSearch across 5M+ suppliers. Customers include defense innovation units, federal R&D program offices, prime contractors, investors, and regional economic development organizations.
Is Public Spend Forum a public or private company?
Public Spend Forum is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Public Spend Forum founded?
Public Spend Forum was founded in 2015. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Public Spend Forum based?
Public Spend Forum is headquartered in Washington, United States, in the North America region.
How does Public Spend Forum make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. Market Intelligence Subscriptions are the primary driver. The others are rapid Market Intelligence Sprints, market and Supply Chain Advisory Services, AI-Powered Reports and Data Exports and govShop AI Market Intelligence Plans.
Who are Public Spend Forum's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Booz Allen Hamilton and SAIC. Mitre Corporation is listed as an others. Direct peers are GovWin IQ (Deltek), Onvia (a Deltek company), Bloomberg Government, DS Federal, Eagle Eye Publishers, GovSpend and Federal Sources (Maximus).
Does Public Spend Forum have an API?
No public API is recorded for Public Spend Forum.
What industry is Public Spend Forum in?
Public Spend Forum's product category is Government Market Intelligence. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAHAEAF, Data, Analytics & AI Consulting. Its NAICS code is 541910 and its SIC code is 8742.