DHS Awards No-Bid Sole-Source Contract to Amentum Services for Camp East Montana After Acquisition Logistics Termination

On March 11, 2026, DHS issued a notice of intent to award a sole-source contract to Amentum Services, Inc. for detention, transportation, and medical services at Camp East Montana, the largest immigration detention facility in the United States. Amentum took over operations on March 12. The no-bid contract runs through September 30, 2026 (a 180-day term); Public Citizen characterizes it as “a no-bid, sole-sourced contract of an undetermined amount” — the contracting notice did not state a ceiling value, and tier-1 reporting (AP/WTOP) does not cite one.

What Happened

DHS terminated its $1.24 billion contract with Acquisition Logistics LLC — a Richmond, Virginia company with 8-50 employees and no prior detention experience — following three detainee deaths in 44 days (December 2025–January 2026), a homicide ruling from the El Paso County Medical Examiner, and 60+ federal detention standard violations in the facility’s first 50 days of operation.

The replacement contract was awarded without competitive bidding. DHS justified the no-bid award by citing the “proprietary nature” of the camp’s infrastructure and asserting that “no other vendor” could provide uninterrupted services. The justification relied on Amentum’s position as an incumbent subcontractor under the Acquisition Logistics contract — a role that DHS used to exclude all other potential bidders from consideration.

Amentum Services is a subsidiary of Amentum Holdings Inc. (Chantilly, Virginia), a major federal contractor with 50,000+ employees and billions in primarily DOD contracts. The company does not appear to have prior experience running civilian immigration detention facilities. Amentum’s various subsidiaries have accumulated 112 federal regulatory violations historically, including a 2024 fatal workplace accident in Virginia and a 2023 OSHA citation for exposing CIA headquarters workers to toxic vapors.

Why This Event Matters

The Amentum transition is the third contractor replacement in thirteen months at Fort Bliss — none awarded through open competitive bidding:

1. Deployed Resources ($3.8B ICE, April 10-13, 2025) — cancelled three days after award, stated reason never disclosed
2. Acquisition Logistics ($1.24B Army, July 18, 2025 — March 2026) — terminated after three deaths, 60+ violations, illegal Texas business registration
3. Amentum Services (DHS sole-source, undetermined amount, March 12, 2026 — September 30, 2026) — sole-source, no competition

The subcontractor-to-prime-contractor conversion — Amentum being awarded the prime contract precisely because it was already on site as a subcontractor — exemplifies an accountability-evasion pattern: the entity that participated in operations under the terminated contract is positioned as the only eligible replacement, foreclosing competition and obscuring continuity of responsibility for prior abuses.

Broader Context

A February 2026 inspection by ICE’s Office of Detention Oversight (released April 2, 2026) found 49 deficiencies at Camp East Montana in areas including use of force, security, medical care, tuberculosis isolation, and documentation of force incidents. The inspection documented inherited conditions that predate Amentum’s takeover, creating ambiguity about which contractor bears responsibility for which violation period.

The pattern — inexperienced or improper prime contractors, undisclosed subcontractors performing actual operations, then subcontractor elevated to prime when prime fails — insulates operational actors from accountability while maintaining continuity of the same personnel and conditions.

Research Gaps

• Full terms of the Amentum sole-source contract, including any performance standards or accountability mechanisms
• Whether Amentum will compete for the contract if/when it is re-bid after September 30, 2026
• Specific Amentum subcontractors operating at the facility
• Whether any Amentum employees were present during the three deaths under Acquisition Logistics

Related Entries

• camp-east-montana-fort-bliss — full site profile
• acquisition-logistics-llc — terminated prime contractor
• 2025-04-10–fort-bliss-detention-contract-chaos — Deployed Resources cancellation
• 2025-12-08–fort-bliss-detention-torture-abuse-allegations — conditions documentation
• epic-inv1-wexmac-titus-detention — parent investigation