Amentum Services wins $340 million award, compared with a $249,404 median
USASpending lists a $340,032,951.47 award to Amentum Services, Inc., dated Sept. 25, 2026, for operations that collect applicant biometric and biographical data.
An award is a commitment to pay, not proof a technology was used on the public, so the figure measures what an agency has obligated rather than what has been delivered or used.
USASpending.gov records award 70SBUR23C00000009 to Amentum Services, Inc., grouped under the Department of Homeland Security and matched by the keyword "biometric," at $340,032,951.47, dated Sept. 25, 2026. The award description reads: "APPLICATION SUPPORT CENTERS (ASC) OPS AND FACILITIES SERVICES WILL PROVIDE, ADMINISTER AND MANAGE (ASCS) AND RELATED OPERATIONS COLLECTING APPLICANT BIOMETRIC AND BIOGRAPHICAL DATA." Biometric data means physical characteristics used to identify a person, such as fingerprints or facial images; the record does not say which are collected.
The baseline for the same surveillance keyword search is a median award of $249,403.75 across 141 records in the 120-day window. A median is the midpoint of the set: half those awards were smaller and half larger. Within that set, the next largest amounts are General Dynamics One Source at $213,150,787.87 and Peraton Enterprise Solutions at $166,538,518.17, both from USASpending.gov.
The amount is an obligation, meaning a commitment to pay, not money already paid out. It is the obligated figure; a contract's potential ceiling value is a separate number and is not part of this record. A contract award is not evidence that the technology was used on the public.
A FOIA request — a written ask for a federal agency's own records — to the Department of Homeland Security for this contract's files would be the step that shows what the award covers in practice. The award record alone does not, and a request would also show whether work was performed.
Room for disagreement
The comparison rests on a 120-day window and a keyword match, so the median describes only the awards the search returned and one large record sets the top of the range. The obligated amount also says nothing about the contract's ceiling or what was actually delivered.
About the data
Every figure in this story is read from PostNewz's pn_records table (141 rows read Oct 23, 5:53 p.m. HST): The 12 largest usaspending_surveillance records of the last 120 days; the highlighted record is 70SBUR23C00000009 against a median amount of $249,404 (pn_records). Prose by Eva Lindqvist (pn94-pnj-v6, model @cf/deepseek-ai/deepseek-v4.1-flash-1017); numbers checked against the rows by the figure guard; neutrality check passed.
Sources
Corrections
- : Correction: The headline presented an event from 2026-09-25 as current news. The correct date of the award to Amentum Services is September 25, 2026. An earlier version of the headline read: “Amentum Services' $340 million award against a $249,404 surveillance median.” Corrected Oct. 24, 2026, 1:19 a.m. HST.
- : Correction: The headline wrote a comparison with a median as a change; the figure is compared with the median, not up from it. The story framed a median as an earlier value. The correct framing is a comparison. An earlier version of the headline read: “Amentum Services wins $340 million award: up from a $249,404 surveillance median on September 25, 2026.” Corrected Oct. 24, 2026, 3:00 a.m. HST.
- : Correction: The period the story counted was still incomplete when it was published, because this source's records arrive late. The correct award amount is $340,032,951.47, compared with a $249,404 surveillance median on September 25, 2026. Corrected Oct. 24, 2026, 11:37 p.m. HST.
- : Correction: The period the story counted was still incomplete when it was published, because this source's records arrive late. The correct median award of $249,404 is from the 120-day period up to 2026-10-24. An earlier version of the headline read: “Amentum Services wins $340 million award, compared with a $249,404 surveillance median on September 25, 2026.” Corrected Oct. 25, 2026, 1:35 p.m. HST.