Assistant Secretary for Departmental Management

The Department of Agriculture Assistant Secretary for Departmental Management is a sub-agency within USDA that procures and grants funds in support of departmental administrative, operational, and technology infrastructure. The office exercises contract and grant authority across USDA's financial management, information technology, real estate, human resources, and departmental communications functions.

Contract activity at the office is sparse and highly fragmented. Since 1999, the office has issued 686 total contract awards across 275 distinct prime contractors, with a combined potential value of $63.7 million and combined dollars obligated of $261.4 million. Recent volume is minimal: 3 awards in 2020, 1 in 2021, 3 in 2022, 1 in 2025, and 4 year-to-date in 2026. The most recent recorded award date is August 31, 2026. Over the last five years, Shalom Baranes Associates, P.C. leads by award count with 2 awards worth $1.3 million in potential value, followed by Avlis International Inc. with 1 award and B3 Enterprises LLC with 1 award; the top five primes cover 75 percent of recent award count but only 4 percent of combined potential value, indicating heavy concentration by transactional volume but significant dispersal by dollar weight. The office transacts heavily through Schedule task orders and BPA calls—recent awards with no reported potential value account for substantial volume. Set-asides are minimal: 83 percent of awards carry no set-aside designation, 10 percent are 8(a) sole source, 6 percent are small-business set-asides, and less than 1 percent are competitive 8(a) or service-disabled veteran-owned awards.

Grant activity is dormant. The office has issued 94 total grant awards since 2007, with $26.6 million in combined federal dollars obligated across 65 distinct recipients. Most recent grant activity closed on September 30, 2025. The most recent recorded award in the last five years is North Dakota State University with 1 award and $100 thousand in obligated federal dollars. Grant awards are predominantly Project Grants (99 percent) with 1 Cooperative Agreement.

Recent contract opportunities reflect ongoing departmental modernization and administrative needs. A solicitation for Automation Testing Tool (12314426Q0310, due September 28, 2026) targets small-business concerns seeking cloud-based software testing platforms. An RFQ for USDA-FAS Reverse Trade Missions 2027 (12314426Q0221, due September 17, 2026) is set aside for women-owned small businesses and seeks convention planning services for two agricultural trade events. A solicitation for Easement Change Detection NRCS (12314426Q0307, due September 21, 2026, amended) is a total small-business set-aside for a geospatial data processing system to monitor conservation easements nationwide. Multiple sole-source justifications and special notices posted in September 2026 address proprietary software renewals (Chicago Soft mainframe tools, Software Engineering of America $AVRS & TRMS, Databricks data analytics, Palantir Platform solutions) and niche acquisitions (Nikon SMZ-18 microscopes, handheld XRF analyzer, Bloomberg terminal licenses, OceaView LoRaWAN gateways). Office-moving and relocation-management solicitations indicate ongoing facility reorganization and personnel transition activity.