← All guides

Federal AI Contracts: What's Being Funded in 2026

AI spending across the federal government has accelerated. Here's where the money is going and what agencies are actually buying.

Top spending agencies

Department of Defense (DoD) — The largest federal AI buyer. Focus areas: autonomous systems, intelligence analysis, logistics optimization, and battlefield decision support. CDAO (Chief Digital and AI Office) coordinates AI acquisition across the military branches.
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) — AI for healthcare data analysis, fraud detection (CMS), and drug discovery support (NIH).
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) — AI for border surveillance, cybersecurity threat detection, and immigration case processing.
Intelligence Community (IC) — Significant classified AI spend; some unclassified solicitations appear on SAM.gov for data processing and analysis tools.
Social Security Administration (SSA) — Document processing, disability determination support, and fraud detection.

What they're actually buying

  • Natural language processing for document analysis and processing
  • Computer vision for surveillance, inspection, and medical imaging
  • Predictive analytics for fraud, maintenance scheduling, and resource planning
  • Large language model (LLM) integration and evaluation services
  • AI governance, risk assessment, and responsible AI frameworks
  • Data labeling and training data preparation

How to position for AI contracts

  1. Ensure your SAM.gov registration includes AI-relevant NAICS codes (541511, 541512, 541715)
  2. Reference EO 14110 (Safe, Secure AI) compliance in your capabilities statement — agencies must consider it
  3. Document any FedRAMP-authorized cloud tools you use
  4. Build relationships with agencies through RFI responses before the solicitation
  5. Consider teaming with a large prime if you're targeting DoD work as a first-time contractor

What the solicitations look like

Most AI solicitations are issued as IT services contracts under NAICS 541511/512, not as "AI contracts" explicitly. Look for keywords like "machine learning," "predictive analytics," "NLP," "computer vision," and "automation" in the SOW (Statement of Work). The actual AI work is often described in plain language without the jargon.

Get AI contract opportunities delivered every Monday

GovCon Intel scans SAM.gov weekly for AI, software, and data contracts — scored by fit and relevance. No more manual searching.

Subscribe — $29/mo →