Federal AI & Cybersecurity Contract Awards: The Last 90 Days (Updated September 2026)
Every federal contract award mentioning AI, machine learning, cybersecurity, or zero trust in the 90 days to September 26, 2026: 87 cyber awards led by a $19.6M GDIT task order, 48 AI awards led by Booz Allen at $28.7M. The largest cyber award shrank 95% from last quarter. Here is who won, who is buying, and why.
Short answer: Between June 28 and September 26, 2026, federal agencies made 87 cybersecurity and 48 AI contract awards. The largest was Booz Allen's $28.7M AI 2.0 task order, and no cyber award topped $20M.
Live federal contract data. No account needed for a quick look.
September 2026 update: the 90-day scoreboard
Refreshed from USASpending on September 28, 2026, covering contract awards signed June 28 through September 26, 2026, with the prior 90 days for comparison:
| Segment | Awards (to Sep 26) | Awards (to Jul 19) | Top 10 value (to Sep 26) | Top 10 value (to Jul 19) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cybersecurity / zero trust | 87 | 209 | $82.9M | $1.19B |
| AI / machine learning | 48 | 66 | $71.3M | $118M |
Two honest caveats. First, these counts include only awards whose descriptions name the keywords, so AI work buried inside generic IT task orders is invisible here. Second, Defense Department awards post to FPDS on a 90-day delay, and fiscal-year-end September awards are still landing, so the newest window is a floor that will rise over the next month. Even so, the drop in award size is too large to be a reporting artifact: no cyber award in this window cleared $20M.
The 10 biggest cybersecurity awards, June 28 - September 26, 2026
| Award | Winner | Agency | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| $19.6M | General Dynamics IT | GSA | Enterprise Network Operations and Cybersecurity Support (ENOCS) task order |
| $13.6M | MITRE | Commerce (NIST) | NCCoE cybersecurity research, development, and engineering support |
| $13.3M | ClearAvenue LLC | GSA | DEHRADS order 6: cybersecurity, privacy, and records management |
| $7.2M | Koniag Data Solutions | HHS | Hybrid FFP / T&M cybersecurity task order |
| $6.3M | Booz Allen Hamilton | Interior | Enterprise Cybersecurity Support Services (ECSS) |
| $5.8M | Alyn, Inc. | HHS | Expansion of HHS threat operations center (HTOC) services |
| $5.2M | Akima Mission Optimization | Energy | Cybersecurity, privacy, and A&A support task order |
| $4.7M | Ho-Chunk Shared Services | State | IT cybersecurity training support |
| $3.7M | ASRC Federal Technology Solutions | Agriculture (OCFO) | Technical, operational, and cybersecurity services |
| $3.5M | RavenTek Solution Partners | HHS (IHS) | Splunk Cloud renewal for enterprise cybersecurity |
The nine-figure cyber programs are done for now; task-order season is here. 8 of these 10 awards are task orders (the F in the PIID) placed against vehicles that were competed years ago. The GDIT, ClearAvenue, and Akima awards were only open to firms already holding the parent contract. If you are not on the vehicle, this quarter never had an opening for you.
HHS is the most active cyber buyer. Three of the top 10 (Koniag, Alyn, RavenTek), all through the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources contract shop. Concentration in one buying office is the same signal USPTO sent on AI last quarter.
The 10 biggest AI awards, June 28 - September 26, 2026
| Award | Winner | Agency | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| $28.7M | Booz Allen Hamilton | GSA (for the Office of the Under Secretary of War) | Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence 2.0 |
| $11.1M | Carahsoft | DHS (ICE) | ServiceNow licenses for the ICE core engine |
| $7.7M | Sterling Computers | Treasury (BEP) | Enterprise servers, hyperconverged infrastructure, and AI compute |
| $5.0M | Kaizen Laboratories | GSA | AI-native complaint intake and case analysis |
| $4.0M | Carahsoft | Agency not reported | Model units for enterprise generative AI |
| $3.7M | Steampunk, Inc. | DHS (ICE) | ICE OCIO technology support |
| $3.0M | PrecisePoint JV | Labor | Enterprise-wide AI engineering services |
| $2.9M | WilCore Technologies | Veterans Affairs | AI veteran-centered submission ecosystem |
| $2.7M | Advanced BioScience Laboratories | HHS (NIH) | AI/ML-driven data integration and interrogation |
| $2.5M | Centrifuge, LLC | DHS (CBP) | AI-enhanced surveillance data platform |
DHS replaced USPTO as the AI buyer to watch. ICE and CBP placed 3 of the top 10 ($17.3M combined). Last quarter USPTO placed 3 of the top 10 ($50M). Buying concentrates in offices running a program, and programs issue follow-on orders for years.
"Agentic AI" is now in federal award descriptions. NOAA Fisheries ($1.7M, "Artificial Intelligence & Agentic AI") and GSA ($1.7M, "Agentic Artificial Intelligence Implementation") both used the phrase this quarter. Capability statements that still say "machine learning" only are a quarter behind the buyers.
Resellers are winning AI money. Carahsoft (twice) and Sterling are license and hardware resellers. A large share of federal "AI spend" is compute and software seats, which is good news for small firms: the services layer on top of those licenses is still being competed.
Run this search yourself
The tables above are a snapshot. The search box at the top of this post runs a live Fed-Spend search, and the Recompete Radar lists the IT and cyber contracts entering their final 180 days, which is where the next quarter of awards comes from. For the full method, see the federal contracts database search guide.
July 2026 edition: April 21 - July 19, 2026
The original report is kept below as the comparison quarter. It was pulled from USASpending on July 20, 2026, covering awards dated April 21 through July 19: 209 cybersecurity awards (top 10 combined $1.19B) and 66 AI awards (top 10 combined $118M).
The 10 biggest cybersecurity awards, April 21 - July 19, 2026
| Award | Winner | Agency | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| $396.6M | General Dynamics IT | GSA | Program management, training, and cyber support services |
| $126.3M | CenterPoint LLC | Interior (for HHS) | Cybersecurity support services |
| $103.4M | Iron Vine Security | Commerce | Enterprise cybersecurity support |
| $102.1M | Iron Vine Security | HHS | CMS Cybersecurity Integration Center operations (CCICOPS) |
| $90.3M | Accenture Federal | Energy (NNSA) | OCIO IT and security operations |
| $87.5M | NetCentric Technology | GSA | DoD DHRA/DMDC cybersecurity support |
| $82.9M | Accenture Federal | Energy | CBOSS BPA task order - cyber strategy, policy, operations |
| $80.2M | Deloitte & Touche | Veterans Affairs | Cybersecurity Transformation Program |
| $73.1M | SkyePoint Decisions | Education | Department-wide cyber support call order |
| $51.5M | Amentum Technology | Education | Cybersecurity and privacy support tasks |
Patterns worth acting on:
Mid-size specialists are beating the giants. Iron Vine Security - not a household name - took $205M across two awards in one quarter. CenterPoint, NetCentric, and SkyePoint are the same story: focused cyber shops winning nine-figure programs against Big 4 competition.
Civilian agencies are the growth buyer. Education placed two of the top ten. Commerce, HHS, Interior, and VA placed the rest alongside Energy. The post-2024 zero-trust mandates turned every civilian CIO shop into a cyber buyer, and most of those programs recompete on 3-5 year cycles.
The vehicles matter more than the awards. The Accenture NNSA award rode an OCIO vehicle; the Education awards are call orders. If you are not on the underlying vehicle when it recompetes, you are locked out of every task order that follows for half a decade.
The biggest AI awards, April 21 - July 19, 2026
| Award | Winner | Agency | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| $28.4M | Accenture Federal | Commerce (USPTO) | Patent-search AI models and labor |
| $16.6M | Index Analytics | HHS | AI through machine-learned modeling (AIMM) |
| $13.7M | Four Points Technology | Commerce (USPTO) | AI assistant tools for patent examination |
| $13.5M | CFD Research Corp | Interior | Machine learning for open systems |
| $12.9M | ASR Analytics | Treasury | Compliance analytics and data science |
| $8.3M | Accenture Federal | Justice | AI exploitation proof of concept (ITSSS-2) |
| $7.9M | Clarivate Analytics | Commerce (USPTO) | AI to assist patent examiners |
| $7.0M | Booz Allen Hamilton | GSA | Incrementally funded AI contract action |
| $5.1M | Noblis | DHS | Screening at Speed AI/ML SETA support |
| $5.1M | ThunderCat Technology | VA | Reflex AI procurement |
The single loudest signal: USPTO placed three of the top ten AI awards ($50M combined) to modernize patent examination. When one buying office concentrates like that, it is running a program, not an experiment - and programs generate follow-on task orders for years.
Also notable: the AI market is still small-ball compared to cyber. The entire top 10 is $118M - a third of GDIT's single cyber award. Federal AI budgets are real but early, which means past performance won now is disproportionately valuable at recompete time.
How to catch the next one before it is awarded
Every award in these tables was visible months earlier to anyone watching the right signals:
Our April AI and cyber awards roundup covers the prior window if you want the trend line.
Search every AI and cyber award live - fed-spend.com/search. Plain-language queries, free, no credit card.
Related Guides
More from the Federal Spending Trends FY2026 series