Contract spending across civilian government agencies increased to $228B during fiscal year 2020, Bloomberg Government reported Tuesday.
BGOV data shows the amount represents a 17 percent rise from approximately $194B in FY 2019.
The Department of Health and Human Services accounted for the largest amount in contract obligations at $41.2B, which covered spending for COVID-19 pandemic response efforts including vaccine development and ventilator supply. Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) serves as the top contractor of HHS with $1.9B in FY 2020 contract obligations for vaccine production efforts.
In addition to HHS, the departments of Veterans Affairs and Energy also accounted for the largest spending across civilian agencies. DOE and VA’s fiscal 2020 figures represent an increase of 25 and 15 percent from FY 2019, according to the report.
The VA’s largest increase for a single contract was on TriWest Healthcare Alliance‘s Patient Centered Community Care contract. Obligations on this contract reached $5.6B in FY 2020, up from $3B in the previous fiscal year.
DOE’s biggest contract spending is attributed to Sandia National Laboratories operations, which a Honeywell (NYSE: HON) subsidiary currently oversees.
