A Snapshot of Government-wide Contracting for FY 2019 (infographic)

Posted on May 26, 2020

From health care to helicopters, the government spends about 40% of its discretionary spending on contracts for goods and services.

In FY 2019, the federal government spent more than $586 billion on these contracts, an increase of over $20 billion from FY 2018. This increase is largely driven by spending on services for national defense. Our infographic shows more details on how federal contracting dollars are spent across the federal government—including which agencies obligated the most funds, what they bought, and whether the contracts were competed. Trends for FY 2019 remain largely the same as FY 2018 and do not reflect spending on COVID-19 response in 2020.

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Infographic showing governmentwide spending on goods and services in FY 2019

GAO Contacts
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William T. Woods
William T. Woods
Director