Federal civilian and defense agencies collectively increased annual contract spending by $70 billion to $665 billion during fiscal year 2020, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office.
GAO found that agencies spent $35 billion to buy medical supplies and pharmaceutical products in FY 2020 as part of COVID-19 response efforts.
The Department of Defense accounted for the largest share of governmentwide contracting dollars for the period, obligating $218.1 billion on product acquisitions and another $203.6 billion on service procurements.
Meanwhile, civilian agencies spent $188.2 billion to obtain services, such as research and development operations support, and roughly $55.1 billion to purchase various products like biologics and software platforms.
Agencies obligated $144.2 billion in FY 2020 federal contract funds to the small business community, GAO noted.
The office also found that the amount of other transaction agreements rose from $1.7 billion in FY 2016 to $16.5 billion last fiscal year.
