Office of Ethics

The Department of Agriculture Office of Ethics is a civilian sub-agency that procures consulting, training, advisory, and communications services to support federal ethics compliance and oversight across the USDA mission. The Office has awarded 49 contracts since 2007, with contract activity averaging two to five awards per year. Over the last five years, the Office issued 3 awards in 2020, 4 in 2021, 5 in 2022, 4 in 2023, and 1 in 2025. Combined award potential value across the portfolio stands at $5.2 million, with $5.3 million obligated cumulatively.

The competitive landscape is highly fragmented. Among recent awards (last five years), the top five primes by count account for 92 percent of activity, but the top five by potential value represent only 4 percent of combined potential value — a distribution indicating that award sizes are uniformly small across the vendor base. Quickseries Publishing Inc. leads by award count with 5 awards totaling $54 thousand in potential value, followed by Politico, LLC with 3 awards worth $25 thousand, and New TECH Solutions, Inc. with 1 award valued at $56 thousand. Of 22 distinct primes awarded over the full portfolio history, no vendor has achieved substantial market share; individual award values are in the tens of thousands of dollars.

The set-aside mix is minimal. Ninety-eight percent of awards carry no set-aside designation; only 1 award out of 49 was designated as Total Small Business. This distribution reflects the Office's procurement focus on specialized advisory and communications services where unrestricted competition dominates.

The most recently recorded award date was October 1, 2025. No recent contract opportunities are currently posted for the Office of Ethics. Prospective vendors should monitor the USDA contracting office and SAM.gov for solicitations as the Office's low award volume and small individual contract values suggest sporadic rather than continuous procurement activity.