Where can one find the federal award documents (SAM.gov or USASpending) for PenLink and Clearview contracts with ICE?

1. Where to look on USAspending — the running record of obligations and awards

The clearest, reporter‑cited path to ICE award documents is USASpending.gov, which aggregates agency obligations and award pages; multiple outlets used USASpending to tally ICE’s September obligations and to link to individual award records for both Clearview and PenLink purchases (for example, the USASpending award page referenced in reporting) ^{[1] [4] [5]}. Journalists identifying dollar amounts (a $3.75M up‑front obligation and a $9.2M total for Clearview in some records, and roughly $2M for PenLink’s Tangles/Weblocs) relied on USASpending’s transactional entries and award pages to substantiate those figures ^{[3] [6] [5]}.

2. Where to look on SAM.gov — procurement notices, justifications, and sole‑source files

Procurement documentation that explains why a purchase was structured as a sole‑source or contains acquisition language often appears on SAM.gov; reporting notes a sole‑source procurement justification for a Clearview award that was posted to SAM.gov (the Spokane Border Patrol example) and that agency acquisition documents (including redacted acquisition documents) were obtained and cited by outlets like 404 Media and The Independent ^{[2] [7] [3]}. For any federal award search, check SAM.gov for the original solicitation, notice of intent, and justification documents tied to the award number or procurement date cited in news accounts.

3. How to match reporting to the official records — dates, award numbers, and agency offices

To locate the exact USASpending and SAM.gov records, use the dates and program office names reported in coverage: reporters cite a September spike in ICE obligations and list specific transactions (Clearview awards dated around Sept. 5 and PenLink entries around Sept. 25), and some stories identify ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) or Border Patrol as the contracting office — those metadata fields are searchable on both USASpending and SAM.gov and will surface the award page or the SAM procurement notice tied to the transaction ^{[6] [3] [8]}.

4. What the documents will (and will not) show — obligations, total contract value, and redactions

USASpending records typically show obligated amounts, award descriptions, and award IDs, and SAM.gov postings contain solicitation language and procurement justifications, but reporting also documents cases where acquisition documents were redacted or where only partial figures (an up‑front obligation versus total potential value) were visible — for Clearview, some outlets reported a $3.75M immediate award with a total contract value reported higher (roughly $9.2M), and other civil‑liberties groups report still different rounded figures; expect redactions and multiple line items across fiscal records ^{[3] [6] [9]}.

5. Caveats, competing narratives, and next steps for verification

Multiple outlets and watchdogs report similar award figures but differ on totals and legal framing — some cite $3.75M obligations, others a $9.2M total, and watchdogs and advocacy groups place different emphases on purpose and scope of use; reporters relied on a mix of USASpending entries, SAM.gov postings, and leaked/acquired acquisition documents to reconstruct the deals, so the prudent next step is to search USASpending by award ID or agency/date and SAM.gov by solicitation number or notice date to retrieve the raw award page and any linked attachments rather than relying solely on secondary reporting ^{[1] [3] [2]}. Where reporting or the provided sources do not list a direct URL, the limitation is in the cited articles — the official portals remain the canonical sources for the primary documents ^{[1] [2]}.