# DHS Establishes $2.657B Software BPA

DHS established a five-year, departmentwide blanket purchase agreement with Carahsoft for software distributed through its federal contracting channel. The BPA has an estimated purchasing capacity of **$2.657 billion**, not guaranteed spending; about $97 million had been obligated across 30 orders. Related purchases—including ICE’s September 2026 Zscaler order and a DHS award to Thales for fingerprint-matching technology maintenance—illustrate how existing integrations, data, and limited access to technical rights can make it difficult or costly to switch providers.

- The BPA creates an ordering opportunity for software available through Carahsoft, but its estimated capacity should not be treated as committed revenue. Companies should assess relevant orders and requirements under the agreement.
- **Why this matters:** Agencies’ reliance on proprietary systems and accumulated integrations can constrain competition and create transition costs for follow-on procurements.
- Contractors competing for related work should address interoperability, data portability, access to technical documentation and intellectual property rights, and transition plans where requirements support those considerations.

**Jurisdictions:** federal
**Industries:** Information Technology
**Topics:** Contracting Vehicles
**Published:** October 29, 2026

### Government Entities
- U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
- Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)

### Vendors
- Carahsoft (BPA holder and software reseller)
- Thales (Awardee for fingerprint-matching technology maintenance)
- Zscaler (Software manufacturer whose cybersecurity technology was purchased through the BPA)
- ServiceNow (Software manufacturer whose licenses were purchased through the BPA)
- Socure (Digital identity software manufacturer whose licenses were purchased through the BPA)

### Sources
- [DHS structured a five-year software deal worth an estimated $2.7B around products sold exclusively through Carahsoft. Records reviewed by Biometric Update point to proprietary dependencies across federal biometric and identity systems.

#DHS #Procurement

https://t.co/CVyZlJOf5C](https://x.com/BiometricUpdate/status/2115835572237246877) - twitter-agency
- [DHS $2.7B software deal highlights barriers to competition, vendor lock-in | Biometric Update](https://www.biometricupdate.com/202610/dhs-2-7b-software-deal-highlights-barriers-to-competition-vendor-lock-in) - Biometric Update