Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs

The Department of State Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs is a civilian sub-agency within the State Department that procures contracts and funds grants to advance U.S. economic and business policy objectives globally. The Bureau executes work across trade development, investment facilitation, commercial diplomacy, and related economic-partnership initiatives.

The Bureau's contract portfolio totals 532 awards worth $155.5 million in combined potential value since 2007, with $138 million obligated to date. Contract activity has declined sharply in recent years: 38 awards in 2022, 30 in 2023, 28 in 2024, 2 in 2025, and 9 year-to-date in 2026. The most recent contract award closed on 2026-10-01. Among prime contractors over the last five years, competition is fragmented — the top five hold 50 percent of recent awards by count and 28 percent by combined potential value. Deloitte & Touche LLP leads with 12 awards totaling $34.3 million, followed by Miscellaneous Foreign Awardees (23 awards, $407 thousand combined potential value), American Association For The Advancement Of Science (10 awards, $252 thousand), Goldbelt C6, LLC (6 awards, $5.9 million), and Bloomberg Finance LP (3 awards, $96 thousand). Ninety-four percent of awards carry no set-aside designation; the remaining six percent distribute across 8(a) Sole Source (three percent), Total Small Business (two percent), Competitive 8(a) (one percent), Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (less than one percent), and HUBZone (less than one percent).

The Bureau's grant portfolio totals 79 awards obligating $62.2 million in federal dollars since 2013, with combined federal and non-federal share of $72.1 million. Grant activity has remained modest and relatively stable: 2 awards in 2020, 8 in 2021, 5 in 2022, 7 in 2023, and 8 in 2024. The most recent grant award closed on 2024-09-30. Among recipients over the last five years, concentration is fragmented — the top five hold 35 percent of recent awards by count and 37 percent by federal dollars. Arizona State University leads by federal dollars with one award totaling $13.8 million; International Budget Partnership-Sba Small 7A Term leads by award count with 3 awards totaling $1.8 million federal dollars. Recipients distribute across 36 distinct organizations. Grants split between Project Grants (63 percent of awards) and Cooperative Agreements (37 percent).

The Bureau posted the Pax Silica Artificial Intelligence Assistance Project (Solicitation Number DFOP0019193) as a Cooperative Agreement funding opportunity for for-profit organizations, seeking to establish a supply-chain credentialing and provenance platform to secure the AI supply chain in partner countries. The due date closed on 2026-08-20.