Monday Report · Free · Issue #1
Defense & Aerospace Logs Full 4/4 Influence Chain
Week ending March 22, 2026 · Published March 23, 2026
$4.3B
awarded
536
actions
42
bills introduced
20
IG reports
Federal Contract Spending — FY2026
$202,308,662,098
This week added $4.3B.
Public Money Tracker
A weekly snapshot of how federal money, lobbying, and legislation actually move — in under 5 minutes.
Federal Money Report — Week of March 16, 2026
No opinion. No commentary. The data speaks.
$4.3B
The federal government issued $4.3B across 1,000 contracts the week of March 16, 2026 — with a single Texas construction firm capturing more than one dollar in four.
This Week at a Glance
- Biggest contractSPENCER CONSTRUCTION LLC, $1.1B, Department of Homeland Security
- Top billNo top bills filed — 26 introduced bills fall under broad ‘Other’ policy area
- Notable oversightIG flags failed bank safety review and DOT single audit findings
- Donor-contract overlapLEIDOS INC., $228K donated, $59.9M received
Key Findings
- SPENCER CONSTRUCTION LLC received $1.1B from the Department of Homeland Security this week — a single award representing roughly 26% of all $4.3B in contracts tracked across 1,000 awards.
- The Defense and Aerospace sector logged a full 4/4 influence chain score in Q4 2025: $3.8M in donations, $71.1M in lobbying spend, activity across 2 bills, and $456.0M in contract awards all appear in the same dataset.
- Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals ranked second in Q4 2025 lobbying spend at $19.5M, with Eli Lilly alone filing $2.2M — as drug pricing legislation remains an active area on Capitol Hill. One anomalous filing excluded from named clients.
- Inspectors General flagged 20 oversight findings this week, including a limited review of a failed bank and a quality control review of the Surface Transportation Board’s audited financials — spanning financial safety and transportation programs.
Spotlight
The week’s single most striking data point is the $1.1B award to Spencer Construction LLC, a Texas firm, from the Department of Homeland Security. That one contract equals roughly 26 cents of every dollar spent across all 1,000 awards tracked this week. For context, the next four largest recipients — Austal USA ($175.3M), California Institute of Technology ($134.3M), Salus Worldwide Solutions Corp. ($124.9M), and New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance ($122.1M) — would need to be combined and still fall short. Observational data shows Austal USA appears in both the contract and donor datasets, having received $175.3M while donating $88 to federal candidates. No causal link is drawn — these are co-occurrences in public records.
This Week by the Numbers
| Federal contracts & grants(this week) | $4.3B |
| Lobbying spend(Q4 2025, latest) | $179.5M |
| Bills introduced(this week) | 26 |
| IG reports(this week) | 20 |
Donor–Recipient Overlap
Organizations listed appear in both FEC contribution and USASpending award data. Co-occurrence is observational only and does not imply a causal relationship or misconduct.
| Organization | What they do | Donated (FEC) | Received (USASpending) |
|---|---|---|---|
| AUSTAL USA | Defense shipbuilding contractor | $88 | $175.3M |
| CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | Federal research and space sciences institution | $108K | $163.0M |
| CGI FEDERAL | Federal IT services provider | $9K | $74.2M |
| VERTEX AEROSPACE | Aerospace and defense services firm | $2K | $68.3M |
| LEIDOS INC. | Defense and intelligence systems contractor | $228K | $59.9M |
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Data: USASpending.gov · FEC · Senate LDA · Congress.gov · Week ending March 22, 2026