US Marshals Service DC

The U.S. Marshals Service, a sub-agency of the Department of Justice responsible for federal law enforcement operations and prisoner detention services, awarded 44 federal contracts totaling $18.3 million in combined potential value since 2013, with activity concentrated in recent years. Award volume has been minimal and inconsistent—the Service issued one award each in 2021, 2022, and 2024, three in 2023, and one in 2025—reflecting a procurement posture focused on selective, low-value transactions rather than sustained contracting activity.

The competitive landscape is highly fragmented. Among the top five primes by award count over the last five years, those five firms collectively account for 83 percent of recent awards but represent only 6 percent of combined potential value by dollar count, indicating that the Service splits its procurement across many small transactions. Cellco Partnership leads by award count with one contract worth $144 thousand; GBR Architects LLC follows with one contract at $194 thousand. The remaining 42 distinct prime contractors hold single awards each, with most below $25 thousand. No single vendor demonstrates sustained contractual presence or dollar dominance.

The Service procures almost entirely without set-asides—68 percent of awards carry no set-aside designation. Small business awards, including 8(a) sole-source, total 13 awards (30 percent of the portfolio), with 9 awards designated Total Small Business, 4 as 8(a) Sole Source, and 1 as Woman-Owned Small Business. This distribution reflects a procurement approach weighted toward open competition rather than preferential award mechanisms.

The most recent award on record closed on 2025-07-07. With only one award in 2025 and the five-year cadence remaining sporadic, the Service does not appear to be ramping contracting activity. Potential contractors should treat this agency as opportunistic rather than a steady customer; transaction sizes remain in the low hundreds of thousands or below, suitable for small-business vehicles or niche-capability vendors serving law-enforcement or detention-operations missions.