State Department FY 2026 Budget Request Highlights

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released its fiscal year (FY) 2026 budget request last month and the Department of State (DoS) remains among the dozen highest-funded civilian departments.

State Department Total Discretionary Funding and Priorities

The FY 2026 International Affairs budget request provides $9.6B in total discretionary funding for the Department of State and related international affairs programs. The budget sustains the roll-in of U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and related international assistance programs. This is a $49.7B reduction, including rescissions and $20B in cancellations, from the estimated FY 2025 annualized CR level.

While the top-line discretionary budget level is significantly lower, the budget still provides funding for many traditional DOS functions and areas. Below are some budget highlights from several State Department bureaus and other operational areas, along with examples of technology investments described within their budget justifications sent to Congress.

• Bureau of Consular Affairs (CA) – Allocates $4.2B for the CA, an increase of $195M from the FY 2025 estimated level. Of the total CA budget, $821M is for Consular Systems and Technology.
• Embassy Security, Construction and Maintenance – Allots $2.0B for Embassy Security, Construction and Maintenance, of which $1.2B is for Worldwide Security Upgrades.
• USAID Integration – Supplies $358M for the integration of certain foreign assistance functions and activities previously covered by USAID, enabling 217 direct hire positions and related support costs for program management and oversight.
• Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) – Provides $30M for INR, a $903K increase above the FY 2025 estimated level, to support strategic realignment to address emerging security, technological, and emergency management priorities and challenges.

Note: These budget request figures do not include FY 2026 funding requests included in the current FY 2025 budget reconciliation (i.e., the “big, beautiful bill”) that is currently under negotiation in Congress.

State Department Information Technology and Cybersecurity Budgets

OMB has yet to release the traditional details of agency Information Technology budgets for FY 2026. So far, OMB has only released a Technical Supplement to the 2026 Budget that provides the top-line numbers for Total IT and Cybersecurity for State and other departments and agencies. According to OMB’s supplement, State’s total FY 2026 budget request for Information Technology is $1.1B. Further, State is planning to spend $744M on cybersecurity activities.

While full IT budget details are yet to come, there are useful IT-related details in the larger Foreign Affairs discretionary budget justification documents linked above. Some IT funding highlights from this include:

• IT Central Fund (ITCF) – Requests $399.7M for the ITCF, which is $10.7M above the FY 2025 estimated level.
• Diplomatic Technology (DT) – The total ITCF amount above includes nearly $319M for DT, of which $187M is for Enterprise Software License and Maintenance; $41.6M is for Cyber Operations; $20M is for Cloud Services; $15M is for Data Center Services and Hosting; $3.0M is for Artificial Intelligence (AI); $1.6M is for Legal System Modernization; and $49.7M is to integrate and sustain USAID’s enterprise data systems, including Phoenix and the Global Acquisition and Assistance System (GLAAS), into the State Department.
• Comptroller, Global Financial Services (CGFS) – Of the $27M in ITCF funding under CGFS, $3.7M is new funding for the Enterprise Delivery Platform Development and sustains the FY 2026 budgets for the Global e-Travel Program (GeT) and for Zero Trust Architecture for CGFS Applications (ZTA) at $800K and $541K, respectively.
• Management/Strategic Services (M/SS) – Provides $8M in ITCF funds (+$3.2M) for Emerging AI Capabilities and $5.6M in new funding for Data.State Execution and Enhancements, both under the M/SS category.
• IT Systems Modernization – Provides $7M in new ITCF funding for IT Legacy Systems Modernization and $1M in new funding for Software Licenses and Support for Operations, Modernization, and Cybersecurity, while removing FY 2026 funding for several existing IT programs and systems, such as the Workplace Management Initiative; Global Information Services (GIS)/eRecords (State Archiving) System; FREEDOMS Enterprise-Wide FOIA System; Permanent Change of Station Portal (myServices). Further, the ITCF supports Integrated Personnel Management System (IPMS)/ePerformance Modernization with nearly $12.6M (+$1.7M) in funding under the Global Talent Management (GTM) category.

Once OMB has posted complete IT budget information to their IT Dashboard, we will get a better sense of the Department of State’s IT priorities and programs going forward.

Final Thoughts

It is possible that few federal departments are undergoing as much organizational and operational change as is the Department of State under the current Trump Administration. However, contracting opportunities will continue to exist and IT systems will require ongoing support and enhancement. Some of these are noted above.  

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