The U.S. Department of Agriculture made two notable IT-modernization awards in 2025-26: a $300M Palantir ceiling BPA and a $270M 5-year SBIR Phase III contract to Steampunk. Coverage from Techi and OrangeSlices AI.
The Palantir USDA award
$300M ceiling BPA for the National Farm Security Action Plan, consolidating data and operations across the Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Work began in 2025 under preliminary award; full rollout expected by 2028.
This is part of the larger pattern of Palantir's federal-platform expansion beyond DoD into civilian agencies.
The Steampunk USDA award
$270M, 5-year SBIR Phase III for Innovation and Modernization with Design Intelligence (IMDI) OCIO Cloud Support Services. SBIR Phase III is significant because it allows sole-source awards to firms that completed Phase II — see our SBIR/STTR reauthorization coverage.
What this signals
- USDA modernization has real money behind it despite federal RIF pressures
- Cloud and data integration are the spending priorities
- SBIR Phase III continues to be a viable path to large agency contracts (Steampunk's case proves it at $270M)
What to do
- Firms with USDA-relevant tech: pursue subcontract relationships with both primes
- SBIR-credentialed firms in IT/cloud: USDA OCIO is actively buying — pursue Phase II + Phase III follow-ons
- Watch for the FSA/NRCS data-consolidation rollout — it'll generate adjacent integration opportunities