ICE Opens Its New Alternative-to-Detention Order at Nearly Twice Last Year's Starting Amount

A $41.0 million September 16 order with B.I. Incorporated for ISAP V opens at about 1.87 times last year's $22.0 million opening. Last year's order ended at $228.5 million, including $86.4 million described as funding for skip tracing. One year of openings is not a trend.

By E. Lawrence Anderson, Yellow Jacket Initiative

On Wednesday, September 16, 2026, ICE signed a new task order with B.I. Incorporated for the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, ISAP V. The record describes ISAP as providing ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations "with a cost-effective alternative to detention, utilizing technology and case management." The order, 70CDCR26FR0000125, runs from Wednesday, September 30, 2026 to Wednesday, September 29, 2027.

The strongest innocent reading. ISAP is ICE's long-standing alternative-to-detention program, and ICE places a new order for it each year. Opening obligations are routinely partial and grow by modification during the year. A larger opening amount can reflect the timing of available funds rather than a change in the program.

What the record shows (as of October 23, 2026).

Opening obligation: $41,018,888.74, as of the record's last modification on September 16, 2026. That is also the order's full value with options so far. No outlays reported yet.
Competition, exactly as coded: extent competed "FULL AND OPEN COMPETITION"; solicitation "NEGOTIATED PROPOSAL/QUOTE." The number of offers is blank in the record, so we cannot say how many firms bid.
Last year's opening: the prior order with the same description, 70CDCR25FR0000127, opened Tuesday, September 30, 2025 with $21,982,428.00 across its base award and a same-day modification. The new order opens at about 1.87 times that.
Where last year ended: the prior order reached $228,516,114.69 by its September 15, 2026 modification, more than ten times its opening. Three of its modifications, totaling $86.4 million, are described as funding for skip tracing services (locating people); two of them name ISAP pricing schedule item 42.

Why we are reporting it. Alternatives to detention are the other side of the detention ledger. When we report detention orders, the ISAP order is the comparison: it shows whether money is moving toward supervision in the community or toward beds. The opening figures are the first like-for-like point for that comparison in fiscal 2027.

What is not established. The record does not say that the new order replaces the old one; that is suggested by matching descriptions and dates. Participant numbers are not in the record. One year of opening figures is not a trend. The record's descriptions of the skip-tracing modifications are cut off, so whether all of the $76.0 million January modification went to skip tracing cannot be confirmed from the record. Federal contract reporting can lag.

Sources: USAspending.gov, orders 70CDCR26FR0000125 and 70CDCR25FR0000127 (transaction history), first retrieved October 21–22 and re-checked October 23, 2026.

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