Search defense budget justifications MCP tool

Searches DoD budget justification narratives (R-2 RDT&E, P-40 procurement, OP-5 O&M, DD-1391 military construction, Drug Interdiction) by President's Budget book, and returns what each program is for, its funding table in thousands of dollars, contracts and performing activities, and construction project details.

MCP tool name: Search_Defense_Budget_Justifications
Data type: Defense budget justification data type
Returns: Defense budget justification MCP response
Search modes: Keyword, Semantic
Annotations: Read only, not destructive, idempotent, closed world
Available in: GovTribe AI, GovTribe MCP

Examples

Use this tool when the question is about what a DoD program is for, what it buys, who performs it, or where a construction project is: the narrative justification books behind the President's Budget. Each result is one R-2 (RDT&E program element), P-40 (procurement line item), OP-5 (O&M sub-activity group), or DD-1391 (military construction project) narrative, or the Drug Interdiction publication, in one President's Budget book. For a program's funding across books, or totals by service or account, use the Search defense budget programs MCP tool.

Read these rules before building a call. Defense budget data explains them in more detail.

All money is in thousands of US dollars. 100000 means $100 million. This applies to every *_thousands field, filter, and sort.
publication_fiscal_years is the President's Budget book, such as 2027 for the FY2027 budget. fiscal_years is the budget year the narrative justifies, which for a President's Budget book is the book's own year.
The funding fields (funding, funding_request_thousands, funding_projection_thousands, funding_continuing, mdap_code, and the contract fields) come from the R-2 and P-40 funding tables. The DD-1391 fields (installation, location_state, facility_category_code, project_cost_thousands) come from the construction project form.
narrative is not returned by default. It is paged at 40,000 characters: request narrative_page_count and narrative_sections first, then ask for a page with narrative_page. Sections are labeled by their role in the book, such as Mission Description, Project Accomplishments, or Justification.
Defense-Wide narratives belong to their defense agency, such as MDA, DARPA, or SOCOM. Resolve the agency with Search federal agencies and filter with federal_agency_ids.
govtribe_url is always null because these records have no GovTribe page yet. Cite a result with source, which names the book, the file, and where in the file the narrative starts.

Which MDA R-2 narratives mention hypersonic defense?

Resolve the Missile Defense Agency first, then pass its govtribe_id.

{
  "tool": "Search_Federal_Agencies",
  "arguments": {
    "query": "Missile Defense Agency",
    "search_mode": "keyword",
    "fields_to_return": [
      "govtribe_id",
      "name",
      "acronym"
    ]
  }
}

{
  "tool": "Search_Defense_Budget_Justifications",
  "arguments": {
    "query": "hypersonic defense",
    "exhibits": [
      "R-2"
    ],
    "federal_agency_ids": [
      "<missile_defense_agency_govtribe_id>"
    ],
    "fields_to_return": [
      "govtribe_id",
      "program_code",
      "name",
      "publication_fiscal_year",
      "funding_request_thousands",
      "source"
    ]
  }
}

Which RDT&E narratives describe work like counter-drone defense?

Semantic mode matches the meaning of the narrative's prose, along with its program, exhibit, and book.

{
  "tool": "Search_Defense_Budget_Justifications",
  "arguments": {
    "query": "defeating small unmanned aircraft systems with directed energy and kinetic interceptors",
    "search_mode": "semantic",
    "exhibits": [
      "R-2"
    ],
    "publication_fiscal_years": [
      2027
    ],
    "fields_to_return": [
      "govtribe_id",
      "program_code",
      "program_name",
      "service",
      "funding_request_thousands",
      "narrative_sections"
    ]
  }
}

Which Army procurement line items continue past the FYDP?

funding_continuing is true when the book prints the cost to complete as "Continuing": the program runs past the Future Years Defense Program.

{
  "tool": "Search_Defense_Budget_Justifications",
  "arguments": {
    "exhibits": [
      "P-40"
    ],
    "services": [
      "Army"
    ],
    "funding_continuing": true,
    "fields_to_return": [
      "govtribe_id",
      "program_code",
      "name",
      "publication_fiscal_year",
      "funding_request_thousands",
      "funding_projection_thousands"
    ]
  }
}

Which DD-1391 construction projects are in Alaska in the FY2025 book?

location_states takes the stored location code, such as AK, GU, or JA. States and territories use USPS codes. Overseas projects use the DoD country codes the C-1 construction exhibit prints, which are not ISO codes: GY is Germany and UK is the United Kingdom. A country the C-1 does not list keeps the value the form prints, in capitals, and that value can be longer than two letters. Check top_location_states_by_doc_count to see the values in use before filtering on a country.

{
  "tool": "Search_Defense_Budget_Justifications",
  "arguments": {
    "exhibits": [
      "DD-1391"
    ],
    "location_states": [
      "AK"
    ],
    "publication_fiscal_years": [
      2025
    ],
    "sort": {
      "key": "project_cost_thousands",
      "direction": "desc"
    },
    "fields_to_return": [
      "govtribe_id",
      "program_name",
      "installation",
      "facility_category_code",
      "project_cost_thousands",
      "service"
    ]
  }
}

Which FY2027 R-2 programs request at least $500 million?

{
  "tool": "Search_Defense_Budget_Justifications",
  "arguments": {
    "exhibits": [
      "R-2"
    ],
    "publication_fiscal_years": [
      2027
    ],
    "funding_request_thousands_range": {
      "min": 500000
    },
    "sort": {
      "key": "funding_request_thousands",
      "direction": "desc"
    },
    "fields_to_return": [
      "govtribe_id",
      "program_code",
      "program_name",
      "service",
      "funding_request_thousands",
      "funding_projection_thousands",
      "mdap_code"
    ]
  }
}

Which procurement lines buy from Lockheed Martin, and on what contract terms?

manufacturers and performing_activity_names match the name exactly as the book prints it.

{
  "tool": "Search_Defense_Budget_Justifications",
  "arguments": {
    "exhibits": [
      "P-40"
    ],
    "manufacturers": [
      "Lockheed Martin"
    ],
    "fields_to_return": [
      "govtribe_id",
      "program_code",
      "program_name",
      "publication_fiscal_year",
      "manufacturers",
      "contract_types",
      "contract_methods",
      "funding_request_thousands"
    ]
  }
}

How do I read a long narrative page by page?

Request the page count and section starts first.

{
  "tool": "Search_Defense_Budget_Justifications",
  "arguments": {
    "defense_budget_justification_ids": [
      "<defense_budget_justification_govtribe_id>"
    ],
    "fields_to_return": [
      "govtribe_id",
      "name",
      "narrative_page_count",
      "narrative_sections"
    ]
  }
}

Then ask for the page that holds the section you need.

{
  "tool": "Search_Defense_Budget_Justifications",
  "arguments": {
    "defense_budget_justification_ids": [
      "<defense_budget_justification_govtribe_id>"
    ],
    "narrative_page": 2,
    "fields_to_return": [
      "govtribe_id",
      "narrative",
      "narrative_page",
      "narrative_page_count"
    ]
  }
}

Which narratives justify one budget program across books?

Find the program with Search defense budget programs, then pass its govtribe_id.

{
  "tool": "Search_Defense_Budget_Programs",
  "arguments": {
    "program_codes": [
      "0603176C"
    ],
    "fields_to_return": [
      "govtribe_id",
      "code",
      "name"
    ]
  }
}

{
  "tool": "Search_Defense_Budget_Justifications",
  "arguments": {
    "defense_budget_program_ids": [
      "<defense_budget_program_govtribe_id>"
    ],
    "sort": {
      "key": "publication_fiscal_year",
      "direction": "asc"
    },
    "fields_to_return": [
      "govtribe_id",
      "exhibit",
      "publication_fiscal_year",
      "funding_request_thousands",
      "funding",
      "source"
    ]
  }
}

Aggregation examples

Use aggregation examples when the answer needs rollups instead of individual rows. Set per_page to 0 when row results are not needed. Dollar rollups are in thousands of dollars.

How much does each service request in the FY2027 R-2 and P-40 books?

top_services_by_funding_request_thousands sums funding_request_thousands, which only R-2 and P-40 narratives carry. Each narrative's request is for its own book's budget year, so the aggregation needs publication_fiscal_years with exactly one book. For the whole budget, including O&M, military personnel, and construction, use funding_thousands_by_service on Search defense budget programs.

{
  "tool": "Search_Defense_Budget_Justifications",
  "arguments": {
    "exhibits": [
      "R-2",
      "P-40"
    ],
    "publication_fiscal_years": [
      2027
    ],
    "per_page": 0,
    "aggregations": [
      "top_services_by_funding_request_thousands"
    ]
  }
}

Where are the FY2025 military construction projects?

{
  "tool": "Search_Defense_Budget_Justifications",
  "arguments": {
    "exhibits": [
      "DD-1391"
    ],
    "publication_fiscal_years": [
      2025
    ],
    "per_page": 0,
    "aggregations": [
      "top_location_states_by_doc_count",
      "top_services_by_doc_count",
      "top_facility_category_codes_by_doc_count"
    ]
  }
}

Which manufacturers and contract types appear most in FY2027 procurement narratives?

{
  "tool": "Search_Defense_Budget_Justifications",
  "arguments": {
    "exhibits": [
      "P-40"
    ],
    "publication_fiscal_years": [
      2027
    ],
    "per_page": 0,
    "aggregations": [
      "top_manufacturers_by_doc_count",
      "top_contract_types_by_doc_count"
    ]
  }
}

Which defense agencies have the most narratives about hypersonic defense?

{
  "tool": "Search_Defense_Budget_Justifications",
  "arguments": {
    "query": "\"hypersonic\"",
    "services": [
      "DefenseWide"
    ],
    "per_page": 0,
    "aggregations": [
      "top_federal_agencies_by_doc_count",
      "publication_fiscal_years_by_doc_count"
    ]
  }
}

Defense budget justification MCP response: Review the response shape returned by this tool.
Defense budget justification data type: Understand the shared record fields and relationships used by this tool.
Choose a search mode and write queries: Choose keyword or semantic search behavior and shape query values.
Source identifiers and record matching: Use GovTribe IDs and source identifiers when passing records between tools.

Search defense budget justifications MCP tool

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