Common Questions, Answered from the Public Record
Plain-English answers to real government questions, each grounded in official sources and live federal records.
12 pages, each tied to live federal records.
- How does NASA spend money?NASA spends most of its budget through contracts with private vendors — large prime contractors that build spacecraft, launch services, ground systems, and research instruments, plus thousands of smaller vendors providing components and services.
- What agencies fund AI?The Department of Defense and the intelligence community are the largest single funders of artificial-intelligence research and development in the federal government, with significant investment from the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy national labs, NASA, and the National Institutes of Health.
- What contractors work with DoD?The Department of Defense buys from thousands of vendors every year, but the largest share of dollars goes to a small set of prime contractors: Lockheed Martin, Boeing, RTX (formerly Raytheon), General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems, L3Harris, and Huntington Ingalls.
- What grants exist for rural broadband?Multiple federal programs fund rural broadband. The USDA Rural Utilities Service runs the ReConnect program, the Department of Commerce administers the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program through NTIA, and the FCC distributes universal-service funding for telecommunications carriers.
- What is CUI?CUI stands for Controlled Unclassified Information. It is a federal designation for information that is not classified but still requires safeguards — things like personally identifiable information, export-controlled technical data, law-enforcement records, and certain financial details.
- What is DFARS?DFARS stands for Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement. It is the set of rules the Department of Defense adds on top of the federal-wide acquisition regulation (FAR) to govern how the Pentagon buys goods and services.
- What is NAICS 541512?NAICS 541512 is the North American Industry Classification System code for Computer Systems Design Services. It covers companies that plan and design computer systems, integrate hardware and software, and provide related services like cybersecurity work, cloud migration, and IT modernization.
- What is NTE?NTE stands for Not To Exceed. It is a contract term that caps the maximum dollar amount the government will obligate against a specific contract, task order, or modification. NTE puts a ceiling on the total spend even when the actual cost is uncertain.
- What is SDVOSB?SDVOSB stands for Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business. It is a federal small-business category that gives certified veteran-owned firms preferential access to a portion of federal opportunities through a system called set-asides.
- What is sole source procurement?Sole source means the government awards a contract to a single vendor without competing the work openly. It is the exception, not the rule — federal acquisition law starts from a presumption of full and open competition.
- Which states receive the most broadband funding?Federal broadband funding flows to states primarily through the BEAD program (Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment), where state allocations were determined by the share of unserved households in each state. Texas, California, Missouri, Michigan, North Carolina, and Virginia all received over a billion dollars in BEAD funding.
- Who buys cybersecurity?Federal agencies are the largest single customer for cybersecurity work in the United States. The Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, and intelligence agencies lead, but every federal agency now has cybersecurity obligations to meet.