Yellow Jacket InitiativeBy E. Lawrence Anderson, Yellow Jacket Initiative
On Tuesday, September 29, 2026, the day before the fiscal year ended, ICE signed a five-year contract with Management & Training Corporation (MTC) for a "contract detention facility in Marana, AZ to provide comprehensive housing, transportation and medical services." The contract is 70CDCR26D00000052. Its first order, 70CDCR26FR0000135, was signed the same day.
The strongest innocent reading. Federal rules allow a contract to go to a single source when only one responsible source can meet the need. ICE's public notice gives that reason: MTC "is the sole owner and operator of the Marana detention facility that meets ICE requirements in the timeframe." If one company owns the only suitable building in the area, there may be no one else to compete. And the contract's headline value is a ceiling; only the first year's $25.8 million is committed.
What the record shows (as of October 23, 2026).
- The contract: an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract, single award. Term: Wednesday, September 30, 2026 to Monday, September 29, 2031. Potential value with all options: $355,485,727.80.
- The first order: $25,808,435.00 obligated, for Wednesday, September 30, 2026 to Wednesday, September 29, 2027. Place of performance: Marana, Pima County. One transaction, no modifications. Firm fixed price.
- Competition, exactly as coded: extent competed "NOT COMPETED"; solicitation "ONLY ONE SOURCE"; authority "ONLY ONE SOURCE-OTHER (FAR 6.302-1 OTHER)." The contract record also gives offers received: 1, and no set-aside; the order record leaves those two fields blank.
The ceiling is about 14 times the first year's obligation.
What ICE's notice said. ICE announced its intent on SAM.gov on Wednesday, February 25, 2026 (notice 70CDCR26R00000010), with offers due by noon the next day. The notice says ICE "needs to increase bed capacity to meet the administration's interior enforcement and border decompression goals." It calls for a facility with "a capacity of up to 775 detainees," supporting the ICE Phoenix field office, with guards, meals, medical care and transportation. It describes the services as being "for two years." The contract as awarded runs five. The notice cites "RFO Subpart 6.103-1, only one responsible source"; the award record codes FAR 6.302-1. We report each as its document states it.
How this differs from the orders we have covered. This is not a WEXMAC task order. The WEXMAC detention orders at Hagerstown and Surprise were coded full and open, with four and six offers; our finding there (The Contract Came First) was that public notice and comment were bypassed, not competition. Marana is coded not competed, with one offer, and ICE did post a public notice of its intent. "Not competed" is the record's coding, not our finding.
What is not established. We have not read the formal justification document, if one was published, or the work statement attached to the notice. The notice gives a capacity of "up to 775"; the contract record gives no bed count. Whether the facility is operating, and how many people it holds, is not in either record. A search of ICE award records for "Marana" returned only this order; that does not rule out an earlier arrangement under another agency or description. Federal contract reporting can lag.
Sources: USAspending.gov, contract 70CDCR26D00000052 and order 70CDCR26FR0000135, first retrieved October 21 and re-checked October 23, 2026. ICE, Combined Synopsis/Solicitation 70CDCR26R00000010 (Feb. 25, 2026), read on SAM.gov October 23, 2026.
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