Sole-Source Justification for Early Career Talent Recruitment Platform
Award Notice Posted
- Solicitation number
- 19AQMM26R0461
- Agency
-
Office of Acquisition Management
Department of State
- Awarded
- to Stryder Corp
- Set-aside
- No set-aside
Opportunity facts
- Contract number
- 19AQMM26C1161 Federal contract award
- NAICS code
- 519290 Web Search Portals and All Other Information Services
- Place of performance
- Washington, District of Columbia 20520, United States
- Points of contact
Notice details come from SAM.gov. Updated .
About this opportunity
The Department of State's Office of Acquisition Management awarded a sole-source contract to Stryder Corp dba Handshake on September 22, 2026, valued at $2.352680 million, for an Early Career Talent Recruitment Platform.
The contract (19AQMM26C1161) is a Firm-Fixed-Price agreement covering a 12-month base year plus two optional one-year periods. The platform supports Foreign Service, Civil Service, Student Internship Program, Consular Fellows Program, and Pathways Internship recruitment initiatives, with capacity for up to 750 hires annually. The award was justified under 41 USC 3304(a)(1) and FAR 6.103-1 based on Handshake's asserted status as the sole responsible source capable of meeting requirements—cited qualifications include immediate operational readiness with zero implementation timeline, exclusive institutional data access covering 1,600+ universities (92% of the Top 500), purpose-built AI-powered matching tools for early-career talent, and over $12.9 million in prior federal contracts validated by independent sole-source awards across DEA, CFPB, Peace Corps, DHS, DOI, DoD, and GSA. Market research conducted by OPM and GSA through a Sources Sought Notice in March–April 2026 yielded ten vendor responses; only Handshake was determined capable of satisfying the combination of platform readiness, verified data access, and demonstrated federal early-career recruitment performance. The Department commits to reassessing market conditions prior to 2029 to determine whether competitive conditions support full and open competition for any follow-on requirement.
Notice text
The U.S. Department of State (DoS), Bureau of Global Acquisitions provides this public notice of a sole-source contrat award (contract No. 19AQMM26C1161), pursuant to RFO Part 6.301, to Stryder Corp dba Handshake for an Early Career Talent Recruitment Platform. See attached Justification for Other Than Full and Open COmpetition (JOFOC) document.
Awarded contract 19AQMM26C1161 to Stryder Corp dba Handshake for 2352680.00 on 2026-09-22.
Files
| File | Type | Posted |
|---|---|---|
| 19AQMM26R0461 JOFOC_Handshake_FE_redacted.pdf |
Notice history
| Notice | Type | Posted |
|---|---|---|
| This notice | Award Notice | |
| Intent to Sole-Source: Early Career Talent Recruitment Platform | Special Notice |
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