(José Niño, Headline USA) The Trump administration awarded Silicon Valley data analytics firm Palantir Technologies a $300 million contract without competitive bidding to construct an AI powered system targeting alleged fraud in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. This move has sparked widespread concern about surveillance overreach and discriminatory targeting of vulnerable Americans.
According to a report by Orange Slices, federal officials announced the three-year Blanket Purchase Agreement last Friday, bypassing normal procurement procedures under claims that Palantir represents the only vendor capable of meeting requirements without unacceptable delays. The system will utilize platforms originally developed for defense and intelligence operations to perform real time data fusion, conduct security checks on SNAP applicants, and implement automated compliance monitoring across Department of Agriculture systems.
According to HigherGov, officials justified the sole source award by emphasizing Palantir’s existing security accreditations and claiming the platform can deploy in days rather than years. The contract includes integration with producer and entity management systems, automated data extraction from applications, and continuous risk alert generation.
This contract implements portions of the USDA’s broader National Farm Security Action Plan, which frames American agriculture as a national security issue requiring protection from foreign adversaries. The plan’s seven priorities range from securing farmland from foreign purchases to safeguarding nutrition programs through enhanced enforcement.
The plan explicitly states its goal involves preserving programs like SNAP for truly needy individuals legally in the United States and requires compliance with Executive Order 14218, which the administration titled Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders. Earlier this month, Fox News reported that Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins threatened to withhold SNAP administrative funding from 21 states, predominantly those under Democratic control, that refuse to provide immigration status data on recipients.
Civil liberties organizations warn this SNAP contract could integrate with broader efforts to link federal databases across agencies, including IRS filings, Social Security records, and immigration data, into what privacy advocates characterize as an unprecedented domestic surveillance net. A May 2025 New York Times investigation detailed these integration plans, though Palantir denied it collects data to unlawfully surveil Americans.
ICE awarded Palantir a $30 million no bid contract in April 2025 for ImmigrationOS, a platform providing agents with near real time visibility into the movements and backgrounds of migrants. Amnesty International’s August 2025 report condemned these AI-powered tools as enabling mass monitoring, surveillance, and assessments of people with high risk of discriminatory targeting and false positives.
Palantir’s government contract growth under the Trump administration has proven dramatic. Per a report by Evotek, the company secured over $300 million in new federal contracts since January 2025.
Peter Thiel, Palantir’s cofounder and chairman, donated $1.25 million to Trump’s 2016 campaign and joined his transition team, as Mother Jones reported. Though Thiel sat out the 2024 presidential race, he donated over $850,000 in 2025 to House Speaker Mike Johnson’s political action committee supporting Republican congressional candidates. Thiel also contributed $15 million to launch JD Vance’s political career, helping elevate Trump’s eventual vice president.
A particularly concerning conflict involves Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff and architect of immigration enforcement policies. Miller owns between $100,000 and $250,000 in Palantir stock while simultaneously shaping policies that expand the company’s government contracts, a situation the Project on Government Oversight flagged as a major potential conflict of interest.
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
