DHS Contract Spending Quintuples as Border Wall Awards Surge
Summary
The Department of Homeland Security obligated $20.9 billion in contracts in FY2026 Q3 (April-June 2026), up 437% from $3.9 billion in the same quarter a year earlier. Customs and Border Protection accounts for 61% of it, driven by new border-wall construction task orders -- Fisher Sand & Gravel alone took $5.7B, including a single $2.83B 'construct vertical border barrier' order -- while the Coast Guard added $4.0B in shipbuilding to Bollinger, Rauma Marine, and Davie Defense.
The figures come from USAspending.gov, the Treasury system of record for federal awards, filtered to and the four contract action types. A year earlier the department was obligating under $4B a quarter. The ramp began in FY2025 Q4 ($15.9B) and has held above $19B for three straight quarters.
View data as table
| FY25 Q3 | 3.9 | a year earlier |
|---|---|---|
| FY25 Q4 | 15.9 | |
| FY26 Q1 | 10.5 | |
| FY26 Q2 | 19.6 | prior quarter |
| FY26 Q3 | 20.9 | Apr-Jun 2026 |
The money has one dominant home. U.S. Customs and Border Protection obligated $12.8 billion in the quarter -- 61% of the total -- overwhelmingly for border-wall construction. The U.S. Coast Guard added $4.0 billion (19%), most of it shipbuilding, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement another $1.2B.
One company dwarfs the rest. Fisher Sand & Gravel took $5.7 billion -- 27 cents of every contract dollar in the quarter -- including a single delivery order to "CONSTRUCT VERTICAL BORDER BARRIER" worth $2.83 billion, about half of Fisher's quarterly total. Three more border-wall builders -- Southwest Valley Constructors ($1.72B), Barnard Construction ($1.59B), and SLS Federal Services ($1.31B) -- follow behind it.
View data as table
| Fisher Sand & Gravel | 5.7 | border wall; incl. one $2.83B order |
|---|---|---|
| Southwest Valley Constructors | 1.7 | border wall |
| Barnard Construction | 1.6 | border wall |
| SLS Federal Services | 1.3 | |
| Davie Defense | 0.8 | Coast Guard shipbuilding |
| Rauma Marine Constructions | 0.6 | Coast Guard shipbuilding |
| Bollinger Shipyards | 0.3 | Coast Guard shipbuilding |
The Coast Guard line is a separate story riding the same quarter. Its shipbuilding orders went to Davie Defense ($777M), Rauma Marine Constructions ($602M), and Bollinger Shipyards ($342M) -- $1.72B combined for cutters and icebreakers, each obligated entirely through the Coast Guard.
- obligated $20.9B in contracts in FY2026 Q3 (Apr-Jun 2026) across 7,666 actions -- up 437% from $3.9B in the same quarter a year earlier, roughly a fivefold jump.
- Customs and Border Protection holds 61% of the quarter ($12.8B), overwhelmingly border-wall construction; the Coast Guard adds 19% ($4.0B) in shipbuilding.
- Fisher Sand & Gravel alone took $5.7B (27% of the total), including a single $2.83B 'construct vertical border barrier' delivery order -- about half its quarterly haul.
- USAspending figures for a closed quarter can still edge up as agencies certify late actions, but the FY2026 Q3 window is past its normal reporting lag; every number here is recomputable from the API queries in the sources.
Obligations cover contract award types A/B/C/D ( calls, purchase orders, delivery orders, and definitive contracts) by action date, summed at the transaction level (spending_level=transactions). The "7,666 contract actions" figure is USAspending's count of distinct contract awards with recorded activity in the window (spending_level=awards), not a dollar figure. Sub-agency and recipient breakdowns use the Apr-Jun 2026 action-date window; each query fixes spending_level explicitly because the endpoint defaults shifted during the pull. Every figure is recomputable from the exact USAspending API queries recorded in the sources. This is a held draft prepared for editor review.
Sources(5) ▾
- U.S. Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Fiscal Service (USAspending.gov), USAspending.gov Award Search API — Spending Over Time (DHS contract obligations, by fiscal quarter) (2026-08-14) — Department of Homeland Security contract obligations grouped by fiscal quarter. Recomputable POST query (issuer-hosted API): {"group":"quarter","spending_level":"transactions","filters":{"award_type_codes":["A","B","C","D"],"agencies":[{"type":"awarding","tier":"toptier","name":"Department of Homeland Security"}],"time_period":[{"start_date":"2024-10-01","end_date":"2026-06-30"}]}}. spending_level MUST be set to "transactions" to sum obligation amounts by action date (the endpoint default shifted to subawards during the pull window). Award type codes A/B/C/D are the four contract action types ( call, purchase order, delivery order, definitive contract). Establishes Contract_Obligations by quarter: FY2025 Q3 $3,897,525,998.30; FY2025 Q4 $15,905,380,268.01; FY2026 Q1 $10,469,706,724.03; FY2026 Q2 $19,600,997,538.37; FY2026 Q3 $20,936,986,297.34. A live POST-only API; a static GET/Wayback capture is not meaningful, so the exact request body is recorded here for reproduction. api.usaspending.gov
- U.S. Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Fiscal Service (USAspending.gov), USAspending.gov Award Search API — Spending by Awarding Sub-agency (DHS contract obligations, FY2026 Q3) (2026-08-14) — contract obligations for the FY2026 Q3 window (2026-04-01 to 2026-06-30, action_date) broken out by awarding sub-agency. Recomputable POST query: {"category":"awarding_subagency","spending_level":"transactions","filters":{"award_type_codes":["A","B","C","D"],"agencies":[{"type":"awarding","tier":"toptier","name":"Department of Homeland Security"}],"time_period":[{"start_date":"2026-04-01","end_date":"2026-06-30","date_type":"action_date"}]}}. Establishes the leading sub-agencies: U.S. Customs and Border Protection $12,819,211,143.47; U.S. Coast Guard $3,969,020,350.78; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement $1,234,936,052.21. A live POST-only API; exact body recorded here for reproduction. api.usaspending.gov
- U.S. Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Fiscal Service (USAspending.gov), USAspending.gov Award Search API — Spending by Recipient (DHS contract obligations, FY2026 Q3) (2026-08-14) — contract obligations for the FY2026 Q3 window (2026-04-01 to 2026-06-30, action_date) broken out by recipient. Recomputable POST query: {"category":"recipient","spending_level":"transactions","filters":{"award_type_codes":["A","B","C","D"],"agencies":[{"type":"awarding","tier":"toptier","name":"Department of Homeland Security"}],"time_period":[{"start_date":"2026-04-01","end_date":"2026-06-30","date_type":"action_date"}],"limit":15}}. Establishes the leading recipients: Fisher Sand & Gravel Co $5,688,349,611.70; Southwest Valley Constructors Co $1,720,050,000.00; Barnard Construction Company Inc $1,585,324,926.00; SLS Federal Services LLC $1,313,227,200.00; Davie Defense Inc $777,006,922.32; Rauma Marine Constructions Oy $602,104,589.15; Bollinger Shipyards Lockport LLC $341,610,683.00. A companion awarding_subagency query filtered by recipient_search_text confirms Davie Defense, Rauma Marine, and Bollinger Shipyards each obligated their full Q3 total through the U.S. Coast Guard. A live POST-only API; exact body recorded here for reproduction. api.usaspending.gov
- U.S. Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Fiscal Service (USAspending.gov) / U.S. Customs and Border Protection, USAspending.gov Award Record — Fisher Sand & Gravel, 'CONSTRUCT VERTICAL BORDER BARRIER' (CBP delivery order) (2026-07-27) — Single federal contract award record, machine-readable via the issuer-hosted API at https://api.usaspending.gov/api/v2/awards/CONT_AWD_70B01C26F00000017_7014_70B01C26D00000012_7014/ . Establishes: recipient Fisher Sand & Gravel Co; award description 'CONSTRUCT VERTICAL BORDER BARRIER'; type DELIVERY ORDER; total_obligation $2,833,494,611.70; awarding toptier Department of Homeland Security, subtier U.S. Customs and Border Protection; period of performance 2025-12-17 to 2028-08-31 (last modified 2026-07-27). The largest single contract award recorded in the FY2026 Q3 window. usaspending.gov
- U.S. Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Fiscal Service (USAspending.gov), USAspending.gov Award Search API — Spending by Award Count (DHS contract actions, FY2026 Q3) (2026-08-14) — Count of distinct contract awards with recorded activity in the FY2026 Q3 window. Recomputable POST query: {"spending_level":"awards","filters":{"award_type_codes":["A","B","C","D"],"agencies":[{"type":"awarding","tier":"toptier","name":"Department of Homeland Security"}],"time_period":[{"start_date":"2026-04-01","end_date":"2026-06-30","date_type":"action_date"}]}}. spending_level MUST be set to "awards". Returns results.contracts = 7,666. A live POST-only API; exact body recorded here for reproduction. api.usaspending.gov
Comments
Always open. Logged-in readers can annotate paragraphs in place.
The Department of Homeland Security obligated $20.9 billion in contracts in the third quarter of fiscal 2026 (April-June 2026) across 7,666 contract actions -- 437% more than the $3.9B it obligated in the same quarter a year earlier. Roughly a fivefold jump, and almost all of it is border security.