Foreign Affairs

The Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service Foreign Affairs is a civilian agency within USDA that procures contract services, primarily in support of international agricultural trade and development activities. The Service has awarded 23 contracts totaling $16.2 million in combined potential value since 2014, with $15.9 million obligated to date.

Contract activity has been sporadic. The Service awarded 3 contracts in 2020, 6 in 2021, 5 in 2022, 1 in 2023, and 3 in 2024. The most recent award closed on 2024-09-30. Over the last five years, the portfolio is highly fragmented competitively — the top five primes by award count hold 56 percent of recent awards but are nearly all one-off contractors. Evoke Research and Consulting, LLC leads by potential value with a single $2.1 million award; Comskil Inc., Duluth Travel Inc., Rightship PTY LTD, and a foreign awardee with undisclosed identity account for the remainder of the top tier. All 21 distinct prime contractors across the lifetime portfolio hold a single award or two, reflecting transaction-by-transaction vendor relationships rather than ongoing incumbency. The contractor base includes foreign entities and small businesses, indicating FAS Foreign Affairs conducts international procurement.

The set-aside mix is predominantly unrestricted competition — 74 percent of awards carry no set-aside designation. Small-business set-asides (8(a) Sole Source, 8(a) Competitive, Total Small Business, and Woman-Owned Small Business) account for 26 percent of awards across four designations, with no single category dominant. Recent contract opportunities are not recorded in the source data. Prospective vendors should monitor FAS solicitations through SAM.gov for notices in agricultural trade support, international logistics, and development-related services, as the irregular award pace and small individual contract values suggest competitive, bid-responsive procurement rather than blanket-purchase arrangements or standing IDIQs.