XL Eagle

Agency deep dive · 03

The Department of Homeland Security

DHS is the newest cabinet department and the least homogeneous. Its FY2026 request is $107.4 billion including reconciliation resources, spread across components that were separate agencies until 2003 and still buy like it.

For a small vendor the useful fact is that the Coast Guard behaves almost nothing like the rest of DHS. It runs stations, cutters, small boats and warehouses, which means it buys physical sustainment work — welding, elevators, forklifts, pier services — through local contracting offices and its Surface Forces Logistics Center. All three of XL Eagle's DHS awards are Coast Guard, and none of them look like border technology.

How Homeland Security is organized

DHS is a federation of operating components. Each has its own contracting authority and its own buying culture.

How Homeland Security is organized Organization chart. Above Homeland Security sits the President’s Cabinet. Beneath the Homeland Security sit: Border and Immigration, U.S. Coast Guard, Transportation Security, Emergency Management, Cyber and Infrastructure, Protective Services, Support and Management. THE PRESIDENT’S CABINET Homeland Security is 1 of 15 executive departments Homeland Security SECRETARY Border and Immigration CBP · ICE USCIS U.S. Coast Guard Cutters · stations SFLC Transportation Security TSA Emergency Management FEMA Cyber and Infrastructure CISA Protective Services Secret Service FPS Support and Management Mgmt Directorate S&T LEGEND All three XL Eagle DHS awards sit here SOURCE: FY2026 DHS BUDGET REQUEST · RETRIEVED 2026-08-22
The Coast Guard is the outlier — an armed service inside a civilian department, with shore infrastructure and a fleet to sustain. That produces a steady stream of small, physical, locally-bought maintenance work that the technology-heavy components simply do not generate.

Where the money is

DHS's FY2026 request is $107.4 billion — second only to Defense and Veterans Affairs. Against the other civilian departments:

Homeland Security against the other civilian departments, FY2026 Horizontal bar chart comparing civilian federal departments by FY2026 President’s Budget discretionary request. VA $134.6B; DHS $107.4B; HHS $93.8B; DOJ $33.2B; USDA $22.3B; DOI $11.7B; DOC $8.5B. Homeland Security is highlighted. VA $134.6B DHS $107.4B HHS $93.8B DOJ $33.2B USDA $22.3B DOI $11.7B DOC $8.5B $0 $35B $70B $105B $140B LEGEND The Department of Homeland Security LENGTH = FY2026 PRESIDENT’S BUDGET DISCRETIONARY REQUEST
Defense is not shown: at $961.6 billion it is roughly 2.4 times every department here combined, and including it would compress the rest into unreadable slivers. DHS sits in the top three civilian buyers, but its spend is concentrated in border and immigration operations rather than in the sustainment work most small vendors sell.
  • Figures are the FY2026 President's Budget request in discretionary budget authority, the same basis used across this series so departments stay comparable.
  • DHS's request comprises roughly $63.65B in base discretionary appropriations plus $26.47B designated for disaster relief.
  • Widely-quoted Coast Guard figures in the $24B range come from reconciliation funding for procurement and certain maintenance, not the Coast Guard's annual operating budget — they are not comparable to component operating levels and are deliberately not charted here.

Where we have delivered

Three Coast Guard awards, all shore- and fleet-sustainment work, in three different districts.

U.S. Coast Guard — SFLC

Material handling equipment maintenance

Scheduled preventive maintenance and breakdown repair on four material handling machines at the Surface Forces Logistics Center inventory control point — the warehouse that supplies the Coast Guard fleet, holding over $800M of inventory serving more than 2,000 assets.

SFLC · Baltimore, Maryland · executed

U.S. Coast Guard — Sector Detroit

Elevator inspection and maintenance

Inspection, testing and maintenance services for the elevators at a Coast Guard sector command facility.

Sector Detroit · Michigan · in performance

U.S. Coast Guard — Station Depoe Bay

Marine welding repair, MLB 47266

Welding repair carried out on board a 47-foot motor lifeboat moored at the station's floating pier.

Station Depoe Bay · Oregon · awarded

The components, and what they buy

ComponentWhat it doesWhat it typically buys
U.S. Coast GuardUSCGAn armed service inside a civilian department, operating cutters, small boats, air stations and shore facilities.Vessel and small-boat repair, welding, facility and elevator maintenance, material handling equipment, pier and waterfront services, warehousing support.
U.S. Customs and Border ProtectionCBPBorder security, ports of entry and trade enforcement — the largest DHS component by budget.Surveillance technology, vehicles, facility construction, detection equipment, logistics.
U.S. Immigration and Customs EnforcementICEInterior immigration enforcement and investigations.Detention services, transportation, IT systems, facility support.
Transportation Security AdministrationTSAScreens passengers and cargo across the aviation system.Screening equipment and maintenance, uniforms, training services, checkpoint construction.
Federal Emergency Management AgencyFEMADisaster preparedness, response and recovery, plus grants to states.Emergency supplies, temporary facilities, logistics and transport, debris removal, engineering services.
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security AgencyCISADefends federal networks and critical infrastructure.Cybersecurity tooling and services, assessments, threat intelligence.
U.S. Secret ServiceUSSSProtective operations and financial-crime investigations.Vehicles, protective equipment, facility security, training.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration ServicesUSCISAdjudicates immigration benefits; largely fee-funded.Records management, IT systems, facility services.
Management Directorate and S&TDepartment-wide administration, procurement and research.Shared services, IT, research and testing.

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More deep dives

The Department of the Interior →The Department of Defense →The Department of Commerce →The Department of Agriculture →The Department of Veterans Affairs →The Department of Justice →Health and Human Services →