ICE adds $11.44 million to keep the Aurora detention order running, and raises rates at the South Texas processing center

An Oct. 27 modification runs GEO's Aurora, Colo. order to Dec. 15. The same day, ICE updated rates and authorized back pay at Pearsall, Texas, under a wage-law adjustment recorded at $0.00.

By E. Lawrence Anderson, Yellow Jacket Initiative

Contract records posted on Tuesday, October 27, 2026 show money still moving at two existing detention facilities run by The GEO Group, Inc.: Aurora, Colorado, and the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall, Texas. Neither action adds new capacity. Both are changes to contracts already in place.

The strongest innocent reading. These are routine actions. The Aurora order's period of performance had been recorded as ending October 15, 2026, and a two-month extension with funding keeps an operating facility open while a follow-on order is placed. The South Texas change is a rate update the record ties to an approved request for equitable adjustment, a standard way contractors recover changed costs. All three task orders are coded full and open competition.

Aurora, Colorado (as of October 29, 2026). Task order 70CDCR25FR0000111, under contract 70CDCR22D00000001, covers the Aurora Contract Detention Facility. Modification P00005, dated October 27, adds $11,441,000.00. Its text: "THIS MODIFICATION EXTENDS THE PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE THROUGH 12/15/2026 AND OBLIGATES FUNDING."

Money: $85,103,576.30 obligated and $55,189,611.26 in outlays, per the award record as of our evening pull on October 29. The period of performance now ends December 15, 2026.
A note on two figures: a pull earlier the same day showed $73,662,576.30 obligated and an October 15 end date. The difference is exactly P00005's $11,441,000.00. The record has since caught up; the higher figure includes the October 27 money.

South Texas ICE Processing Center, Pearsall, Texas. The fiscal 2026 task order, 70CDCR26FR0000107, under contract 70CDCR20D00000012, was awarded August 5, 2026 with $9,803,626.10 obligated, for a period of August 6 to September 30, 2026 and a potential end of August 5, 2027. The record lists the place of performance as Boca Raton, Florida, which is GEO's headquarters, not the facility.

On October 27, modification P00001, at $0.00, is recorded "TO UPDATE RATES AS A RESULT OF AN APPROVED REQUEST FOR EQUITABLE ADJUSTMENT AT THE IDIQ LEVEL."
The same day, the prior year's order, 70CDCR25FR0000091 ($63,007,446.93 obligated and $56,452,838.79 in outlays as of October 29), got modification P00008, also $0.00, "TO AUTHORIZE BACKPAY FROM AN REA APPROVED ON P00034 OF THE BASE CONTRACT."

The parent contract. We pulled it. Its modification P00034, dated September 25, 2026, "INCORPORATES A REQUEST FOR EQUITABLE ADJUSTMENT FOR THE SERVICE CONTRACT ACT." It is recorded at $0.00. The Service Contract Act sets wage and benefit floors for service contractors, so an adjustment under it usually reflects a change in required wages. The record does not say what changed or by how much. The next modification, P00035 on September 30, 2026, also at $0.00, "INCORPORATES ADDITIONAL CASE PROCESSOR POSITIONS AND EMERGENCY BED EXTENSION." The parent contract runs from August 6, 2020 to August 5, 2030, and its base-and-all-options value is $629,265,618.63 as of October 29.

Competition, exactly as coded. All three task orders: extent competed "FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION"; solicitation "NEGOTIATED PROPOSAL/QUOTE." The number of offers is blank in each record, so we cannot say how many firms bid.

What the records do not show.

The size of the rate increase or of the back pay. Every record that mentions them is at $0.00, on the task orders and on the parent contract.
What the "emergency bed extension" means in beds or dates.
Bed counts or detained population at either facility.
Whether ICE will place a follow-on order at Aurora after December 15.
Why the fiscal 2026 Pearsall order, awarded August 5, did not appear in our earlier searches.

USAspending lags the federal procurement system. Every figure here is as of October 29, 2026.

Why we follow it. The detention buildout was concentrated, not cancelled. Money keeps moving at existing contract facilities. Where the dollar figure would show the size of a change, as with this request for equitable adjustment, the record shows $0.00 and leaves the amount unstated.

Sources: USAspending.gov award records and transaction histories for 70CDCR25FR0000111, 70CDCR26FR0000107, 70CDCR25FR0000091 and the parent contract 70CDCR20D00000012 (P00034, P00035), pulled October 29, 2026.

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