A Snapshot of Government-Wide Contracting For FY 2020 (infographic)

In fiscal year 2020, the federal government spent more than $665 billion on contracts, an increase of over $70 billion from fiscal year 2019. Half of this increase, or $35 billion, is attributed to spending on medical supplies and pharmaceuticals to treat COVID-19 patients, among other things related to COVID-19.

Our infographic shows more details on how federal contracting dollars are spent across the federal government—including which agencies obligated the most funds on contracts, what they bought, and whether the contracts were competed. In this year’s infographic, we also included information on federal spending under a special authority known as other transaction agreements (OTA). OTAs are exempt from the Federal Acquisition Regulation and as a result, agencies can customize them to help meet mission needs quickly and attract non-traditional government contractors. OTA usage has grown significantly over the past 5 years, with obligations increasing from $1.7 billion in 2016 to $16.5 billion in fiscal year 2020.