diff --git a/cfa/dataops/utils.py b/cfa/dataops/utils.py
index e1b6883..1c29829 100644
--- a/cfa/dataops/utils.py
+++ b/cfa/dataops/utils.py
@@ -193,6 +193,25 @@ def normalize(version: str) -> str:
     return version.replace("T", ".").replace("-", ".")
 
 
+def construct_version_spec(version: str | None) -> str | None:
+    """Normalize a version string into a packaging specifier.
+
+    If the input already starts with a specifier operator (e.g. ``>``, ``<``, ``=``, ``~``, or ``!``),
+    it is returned unchanged (after stripping whitespace). Otherwise, an exact-match specifier is created
+    by prepending ``==``.
+    """
+    if version is None:
+        return None
+
+    version = version.strip()
+    if version == "":
+        return ""
+
+    if version.startswith((">", "<", "=", "~", "!")):
+        return version
+    return f"=={version}"
+
+
 def version_matcher(
     version_spec: str | None,
     available_versions: list[str],
@@ -223,7 +242,7 @@ def version_matcher(
     versions = sorted(
         (Version(normalize(version)), version) for version in available_versions
     )
-
+    version_spec = construct_version_spec(version_spec)
     if version_spec is not None:
         specset = SpecifierSet(normalize(version_spec))
         versions = [
diff --git a/changelog.md b/changelog.md
index 4c0a806..f413958 100644
--- a/changelog.md
+++ b/changelog.md
@@ -7,6 +7,10 @@ and this project adheres to [Calendar Versioning](https://calver.org/).
 The versioning pattern is `YYYY.MM.DD.micro(a/b/{none if release})
 
 ---
+## [2026.07.21.0]
+
+- adds function to translate bare versions to version_spec
+
 ## [2026.07.20.0]
 
 - change most print statements to logging
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index fa74eec..7e9dca5 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [project]
 name = "cfa.dataops"
-version = "2026.07.20.0"
+version = "2026.07.21.0"
 description = "Data cataloging, ETL, modeling, verification, and validation for CFA"
 authors = [
     { name = "Phil Rogers", email = "ap66@cdc.gov" },
diff --git a/tests/test_utils_version_matcher.py b/tests/test_utils_version_matcher.py
index a2021ff..5bc5b30 100644
--- a/tests/test_utils_version_matcher.py
+++ b/tests/test_utils_version_matcher.py
@@ -2,7 +2,38 @@
 
 import pytest
 
-from cfa.dataops.utils import version_matcher
+from cfa.dataops.utils import construct_version_spec, version_matcher
+
+
+class TestConstructVersionSpec:
+    """Tests for construct_version_spec helper."""
+
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize(
+        "raw_version,expected",
+        [
+            ("2025-12-15T00-00-00", "==2025-12-15T00-00-00"),
+            (">2025-12-15T00-00-00", ">2025-12-15T00-00-00"),
+            ("<2025-12-15T00-00-00", "<2025-12-15T00-00-00"),
+            ("==2025-12-15T00-00-00", "==2025-12-15T00-00-00"),
+            ("~=2025-12-15T00-00-00", "~=2025-12-15T00-00-00"),
+            ("!=2025-12-15T00-00-00", "!=2025-12-15T00-00-00"),
+            ("", ""),
+            ("   ", ""),
+        ],
+    )
+    def test_construct_version_spec(self, raw_version, expected):
+        assert construct_version_spec(raw_version) == expected
+
+    def test_version_matcher_accepts_raw_version(self):
+        available_versions = [
+            "2025-12-15T00-00-00",
+            "2025-12-16T00-00-00",
+            "2025-12-17T00-00-00",
+        ]
+        assert (
+            version_matcher("2025-12-16T00-00-00", available_versions)
+            == "2025-12-16T00-00-00"
+        )
 
 
 class TestVersionMatcher:
diff --git a/uv.lock b/uv.lock
index f46fcb3..e01cbfa 100644
--- a/uv.lock
+++ b/uv.lock
@@ -655,7 +655,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "cfa-dataops"
-version = "2026.6.30.0"
+version = "2026.7.20.0"
 source = { editable = "." }
 dependencies = [
     { name = "altair" },