Smithsonian Institution Contract Opportunities

What SI buys

SI pain points

What SI is actively trying to fix — sourced from agency strategic plans, IG reports, and FY26 budget justifications. Map your capabilities to these and you're writing toward an evaluator's actual problem.

• 1

  The Smithsonian Institution faces challenges in securing its digital collections and IT systems, as identified in GAO reports on federal cybersecurity, requiring enhanced incident response capabilities and compliance with OMB M-22-09 Zero Trust Architecture mandates.

• 2

  With over 155 million artifacts and specimens, the Smithsonian struggles with IT infrastructure modernization, as noted in GAO's IT acquisition and operations findings, needing contractor support for scalable cloud solutions.

• 3

  The Smithsonian's workforce lacks sufficient cybersecurity talent, per GAO's strategic human capital management concerns, creating a need for contractors to provide specialized training and staffing augmentation.

• 4

  Climate change risks threaten Smithsonian facilities and collections, as highlighted in GAO's high-risk area on climate resilience, requiring contractors to develop tailored disaster response and infrastructure adaptation plans.

• 5

  The Smithsonian's IT spending transparency falls short of FITARA scorecard requirements, necessitating contractor expertise in financial systems integration and CIO authority alignment.

• 6

  GAO oversight has identified government-wide improper payments as a $175B+ issue annually, and the Smithsonian needs contractor support to implement fraud detection tools for its grant and vendor payment processes.

FY26 funding priorities

Where the money is moving inside SI in the current and upcoming fiscal years.

• Smithsonian Institution allocated $253M in FY2025 for the National Air and Space Museum revitalization, with contracts for construction and exhibit design open for bidding through FY2026.
• Smithsonian committed $50M for digitization of collections under the Strategic Plan 2022-2026, seeking IT contractors for data management and imaging systems in FY2025.
• Facilities Capital Program funded at $150M in FY2025 for deferred maintenance across Smithsonian campuses, with opportunities for facilities management and construction firms.
• Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory received $30M for Chandra X-ray Observatory operations, with potential subcontracts for scientific data analysis and software support in FY2025-2026.
• National Zoo allocated $25M for infrastructure upgrades under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, with RFPs for engineering and construction expected in late FY2025.