Money Grab/Charge for access to the president
ICE gives Clearview AI a $7.7M no-bid face-recognition contract
— ICE gives Clearview AI a $7.7M no-bid face-recognition contract.
On September 5, 2025, ICE signed a facial-recognition purchase order with Clearview AI after giving notice it would award the work without competition. Procurement records updated September 1, 2026 show $7,687,500 obligated against a $9,225,000 ceiling.
What happened
On August 11, 2025, ICE gave notice that it would award Clearview AI a facial-recognition contract without competition under FAR 6.302-1. It cited the company’s “unique proprietary capabilities.” On September 5, 2025, ICE signed purchase order 70CMSD25P00000111 with Clearview for facial-recognition software.
ICE obligated $3.75 million at signing against a $9,225,000 ceiling over a base year and three option years. The software is for use by Homeland Security Investigations to identify “victims and offenders in child sexual exploitation cases and assaults against law enforcement officers.“
Procurement records updated September 1, 2026 show $7,687,500 obligated and performance through September 4, 2027. Clearview markets a database of more than 50 billion scraped images. Peter Thiel was an early Clearview investor. The $7,687,500 figure is the amount obligated, not the ceiling.
Who benefited
Clearview AI has $7,687,500 obligated on one ICE order with a $9,225,000 ceiling. Homeland Security Investigations gets the facial-recognition software. Peter Thiel was an early Clearview investor.
Who wanted something
Clearview AI had a no-bid award on the table from August 11, 2025. ICE cited its “unique proprietary capabilities” and said the work would go to it without competition. Homeland Security Investigations wanted the tool to identify victims and offenders in child sexual exploitation cases and assaults against law enforcement officers.
Who lost out
Competing vendors had no chance to bid, because ICE awarded the work without competition under FAR 6.302-1. The public money obligated to date is $7,687,500, spent on software built on a database of more than 50 billion scraped images.
Why it matters
ICE bought access to a database of more than 50 billion scraped images without competition, citing the vendor’s own “unique proprietary capabilities.“ The obligation grew from $3.75 million at signing to $7,687,500 by September 2026. The amount is public contract money, not a payment to the Trump family.
Sources USAspending.gov (primary)Biometric Update404 MediaBiometric Update
More
on
this
- ReceiptArmy awards Palantir enterprise deal worth up to $10 billionAlso involves Peter Thiel
- ReceiptICE awards Palantir a sole-source deportation dealAlso involves Peter Thiel
- ReceiptArmy signs Microsoft’s $21.9B headset contract over to Trump donor Palmer Luckey’s AndurilSame group: Steer federal contracts to donors
- ExplainerHow Trump Turned the Presidency Into a Profit CenterHow he profits from the office