Smithsonian Office of the Chief Information Officer

The Smithsonian Institution Office of the Chief Information Officer is a civilian sub-agency within the Smithsonian Institution that procures information technology, systems, and related services to support the Institution's museums, research centers, and administrative operations. The Office of the CIO executes federal contracts across the Smithsonian's 21 museums and research facilities, placing of performance and administrative oversight at the Institution's Washington, D.C. headquarters and subordinate locations nationwide and at research stations overseas.

The Office of the CIO has awarded 4,277 federal contracts totaling $691.7 million in combined potential value since 2004, with $663.3 million obligated. Recent contract activity has declined: 221 awards in 2022, 172 in 2023, 156 in 2024, 120 in 2025, and 67 year-to-date in 2026. The most recent award closed on October 19, 2026.

Contract competition is fragmented among a large vendor base. Dell Federal Systems L.P. leads by award count over the last five years with 105 awards and $6.6 million in combined potential value. Carahsoft Technology Corp. follows with 33 awards and $4.3 million, and Iron Bow Technologies, LLC. holds 27 awards and $3.3 million. These three vendors account for 27 percent of recent awards by count. By combined potential value, the top five vendors hold only 4 percent—Dell Federal Systems, Mythics LLC ($6.2 million across six awards), CDW Government LLC ($5.1 million), Carahsoft, and Compass Federal Consulting ($4 million across seven awards) collectively represent a small fraction of total contract value, indicating that the bulk of spending is distributed across 781 distinct prime contractors in smaller transactions.

The set-aside mix is nearly non-existent: 4,251 awards (99 percent) carry no set-aside designation, while only 26 awards total (0 percent) are designated as small-business, 8(a) sole-source, or service-disabled veteran-owned small-business set-asides. This indicates that the Office of the CIO structures most procurements as unrestricted buys or through pre-established vehicles such as federal supply schedules, blanket purchase agreements, or GSA schedules where set-asides are not applied at the task-order level.

Recent contract opportunities from the Office of the CIO are not recorded in the source data provided. Firms targeting this office should monitor federal solicitation channels (SAM.gov, GSA schedules, and the Smithsonian Institution's procurement portal) for information-technology and systems-integration opportunities tied to museum operations, research infrastructure, cybersecurity, and administrative technology modernization initiatives.