Agencies committed $18.6 billion in contracts during the final week of fiscal year 2026

The year-end rush

The federal fiscal year ended on September 30, 2026. In the final days of a fiscal year, agencies typically push to commit appropriated funds before they expire, and the USAspending numbers for the week of September 26 to October 2 show that pattern in full. Contract obligations across the week totaled about $18.6B, with Homeland Security accounting for nearly a quarter of it at $4.47B across 1,734 transactions. Veterans Affairs recorded $2.86B across 5,813 transactions, Energy $2.48B, and Health and Human Services $2.28B.

These are obligations, meaning money committed through signed contracts and modifications, not cash already out the door. Some transactions modify much larger underlying contracts, and the amount shown is what was obligated in that specific transaction. All figures below come from the USAspending.gov API for contract award types A, B, C, and D.

Where the biggest dollars went

The single biggest award of the week was the $482M delivery order modification to TOTE SERVICES, LLC, ordering delivery of the NSMV VI, a National Security Multi-Mission Vessel, to the Maritime Administration. Next came $446M to PCL Construction Inc. for construction packages on a progressive design-build contract, and $402M to Maximus Federal Services for Health and Human Services contact center operations.

Other large awards included $342M to Leidos Biomedical Research for a National Cancer Institute operational task order covering fiscal years 2026 and 2027, $332M to Clark Construction Group for a Homeland Security design-build project in Laredo, Texas, and $246M to the Alliance for Energy Innovation for Department of Energy appropriated funding. Several of the largest Energy Department awards fund the management and operation of national laboratories, including Sandia National Laboratories.

One caveat applies to the entire week's picture: Defense Department contract transactions are largely missing from the USAspending feed for this period, with only about $69.7M returned. That is a reporting and feed gap, not a real drop in Pentagon spending. Any comparison of departments excludes meaningful Defense data.

The daily cash picture

Separately, the Treasury's daily records show the national debt at $40.24T on October 2, a decrease of $18.2B from October 1. Debt per resident, using the Census population figure of 342,875,301, stands at $117,368. Over the roughly two months of trend data, the debt has grown by about $470.8B, an average pace near $7.47B per day.

The Daily Treasury Statement for October 2 recorded $20.4B in deposits and $42.9B in withdrawals, a net daily outflow of $22.5B from the government's operating cash. The operating cash statement and the debt total track different things: the statement measures cash flowing through Treasury accounts on a given day, while the debt total includes securities issued over time.

Sources

1. U.S. Department of the Treasury, Fiscal Data, Debt to the Penny dataset: https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/datasets/debt-to-the-penny/debt-to-the-penny

2. U.S. Department of the Treasury, Fiscal Data, Daily Treasury Statement, Operating Cash Balance: https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/datasets/daily-treasury-statement/operating-cash-balance

3. USAspending.gov award record, $482M to TOTE SERVICES, LLC: https://www.usaspending.gov/award/CONT_AWD_693JF726F00030N_6938_693JF719D000002_6938/

4. USAspending.gov award record, $446M to PCL CONSTRUCTION INC: https://www.usaspending.gov/award/CONT_AWD_191BWC24C0008_19BM_-NONE-_-NONE-/

5. USAspending.gov award record, $402M to MAXIMUS FEDERAL SERVICES, INC.: https://www.usaspending.gov/award/CONT_AWD_75FCMC22C0038_7530_-NONE-_-NONE-/