WhereTaxMoneyGoesGovernment Accountability Office (GAO): federal spending, contracts and grants
In fiscal year 2026, Government Accountability Office reported $811.6 million in obligations and $817.2 million in outlays, about 0.0% of all budgetary resources tracked on USAspending. Below: where its award money went, who received the most, and how its spending has changed since FY 2017.
FY 2026 figures are still being reported by agencies and will change as late submissions arrive.
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How GAO awarded money in FY 2026
Award obligations are the part of an agency's spending that goes out as contracts, grants, loans, direct payments and other awards to outside recipients. The rest pays for salaries, internal operations and transfers that are not awards.
| Award type | Amount | Relative size |
|---|---|---|
| Contracts | $108.2 million |
Obligations by fiscal year
FY 2026 obligations of $811.6 million were down 14% from FY 2025 ($943.8 million) and compare with $581.0 million in FY 2017.
Show the numbers
| Fiscal year | Amount |
|---|---|
| FY 2026 | $811.6 million |
| FY 2025 | $943.8 million |
| FY 2024 | $902.4 million |
| FY 2023 | $839.6 million |
| FY 2022 | $760.4 million |
| FY 2021 | $722.2 million |
| FY 2020 | $663.4 million |
| FY 2019 | $642.2 million |
| FY 2018 | $609.7 million |
| FY 2017 | $581.0 million |
Top recipients, FY 2026
Ranked by award obligations from GAO. "Multiple recipients" groups aggregated or redacted records, such as payments to individuals.
| # | Recipient | Amount | Relative size |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Four Points Technology, L.L.C. | $16.1 million | |
| 2 | Emcor Government Services, INC | $15.5 million | |
| 3 | Lumen Technologies Government Solutions, INC. | $10.6 million | |
| 4 | Inter-Con Security Systems, INC. | $8.8 million | |
| 5 | Salient Crgt, INC. | $5.7 million | |
| 6 | Insight Public Sector, INC. | $4.7 million | |
| 7 | Serco INC | $2.6 million | |
| 8 | August Schell Enterprises, INC. | $2.5 million | |
| 9 | Dell Federal Systems L.P | $2.5 million | |
| 10 | James G Davis Construction Corp | $2.3 million |
Top states, FY 2026
By place of performance — where the work is done or the money is used.
| # | State | Amount | Relative size |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Virginia | $51.7 million | |
| 2 | Colorado | $12.7 million | |
| 3 | Maryland | $10.9 million | |
| 4 | California | $9.8 million | |
| 5 | District of Columbia | $9.5 million | |
| 6 | Arizona | $5.0 million | |
| 7 | Texas | $3.4 million | |
| 8 | Connecticut | $2.0 million | |
| 9 | New York | $745,000 | |
| 10 | New Jersey | $695,000 |
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Source data last updated November 4, 2026 · Imported November 6, 2026 · Dollar figures are nominal and rounded. How these numbers are calculated · Report a problem