Federal contractor · LINCOLN, NE

NELNET SERVICING LLC

NELNET SERVICING LLC received $304.8M in federal contract obligations in FY2026, on 10 awards (−23% vs FY2025). Since FY2017: $2.5B. Its largest customer was Department of Education ($304.8M).

Obligations · FY2026
$304.8M
New awards
10
Sole-source
0.0%
Single offer
0.0%
UEI
MNXKQ62J7AE8
Other than small business
Open in the contracts explorerRelationship graph

Spending by fiscal year

Obligations per federal fiscal year (October–September).

  1. 153.6MFY2017
  2. 157.3MFY2018
  3. 145.1MFY2019
  4. 153.3MFY2020
  5. 145.1MFY2021
  6. 240MFY2022
  7. 362.4MFY2023
  8. 407.4MFY2024
  9. 397.2MFY2025
  10. 304.8MFY2026

Top buying agencies

Obligations in FY2026.

  1. Department of Education$304.8M100%
    10 awards

What was bought · Where the work was performed

Obligations in FY2026.

What was bought

  1. Professional services$304.8M100%

Where the work was performed

  1. Lancaster County, NE$292.8M96%
  2. District of Columbia, DC$12M3.9%

Integrity signals

Shares of the year's obligations, next to the country's.

  • Low competition0.0%
    US 39% · -$261.7K
  • Sole-source awards0.0%
    US 30% · -$231.5K
  • Single-offer competitions0.0%
    US 8.8% · -$30.2K
  • Urgency justifications0.0%
    US 5.1% · $0

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Largest awards

  1. PROVIDE DIRECT LOAN SERVICES SUCH AS CALL CENTER AND FINANCIAL REPORTING - NELNET FROM 12/15/2019 THROUGH 12/14/2020$988.7M
    Department of Education· District of Columbia, DC· Professional services· Nov 26, 2019 – Sep 29, 2026· 91003120F0312
  2. OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE (O&M) TASK ORDER FOR STUDENT LOAN SERVICING IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE USDS CONTRACT. ALL WORK AND DELIVERABLES PROVIDED MUST BE IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE CONTRACT FOR THE TASK ORDER.$392.4M
    Department of Education· District of Columbia, DC· Professional services· Jun 28, 2024 – Sep 28, 2026· 91003124F0321
  3. OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE (O&M) TASK ORDER FOR STUDENT LOAN SERVICING IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE USDS CONTRACT. ALL WORK AND DELIVERABLES PROVIDED BY THE USDS SERVICER MUST BE IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE CONTRACT F$210.7M
    Department of Education· Lancaster County, NE· Professional services· Mar 31, 2026 – Sep 29, 2026· 91003126F0022
  4. OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE (O&M) TASK ORDER FOR STUDENT LOAN SERVICING IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE USDS CONTRACT.$154.9M
    Department of Education· Lancaster County, NE· Professional services· Sep 24, 2025 – Aug 19, 2026· 91003125F0044
  5. OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE (O&M) TASK ORDER FOR STUDENT LOAN SERVICING IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE USDS CONTRACT. ALL WORK AND DELIVERABLES PROVIDED MUST BE IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE CONTRACT FOR THE TASK ORDER.$79.3M
    Department of Education· District of Columbia, DC· Professional services· Mar 27, 2024 – Feb 23, 2026· 91003124F0312
  6. SPECIALTY TASK SERVICES (STS) TASK ORDER IS FOR IMAGE REPOSITORY, DECOMMISSIONED SERVICER DATA AND PAYMENT SUPPORT, FFEL GUARANTY AGENCY REHABILITATION LOAN PURCHASES, AND LEGACY LOAN CONSOLIDATION ORIGINATION AND DISBURSEMENT SUPPORT FUNCTIONS.$52.2M
    Department of Education· District of Columbia, DC· Professional services· Jan 3, 2024 – Aug 11, 2026· 91003124F0301
  7. THE INITIAL TASK ORDER IS A FIRM-FIXED PRICE TASK ORDER FOR THE TASKS AND DELIVERABLES REQUIRED FOR THE USDS SERVICER TO BECOME PERFORMANCE READY, ATTAIN ITS AUTHORIZATION TO OPERATE (ATO), AND ACHIEVE GO-LIVE (GO- LIVE) OF ITS SERVICING SYSTEM.$18.7M
    Department of Education· District of Columbia, DC· Professional services· Apr 24, 2023 – Mar 24, 2026· 91003123F0321
  8. TASK ORDER FOR DEFAULT PREVENTION PILOT FOR CALENDAR YEAR 2026.$3.2M
    Department of Education· Lancaster County, NE· Professional services· Sep 22, 2026 – Sep 29, 2026· 91003126F0055

Subawards

Matched by Unique Entity ID: the first-tier subawards this organization reported as a prime recipient, and those primes reported paying it.

As a prime: who it pays · FY2026

No subawards reported as a prime in FY2026.

As a sub-recipient: who pays it · FY2026

No subawards reported to it in FY2026.

By fiscal year

  • FY2023: $0 paid out · $59.8M received
  • FY2024: $0 paid out · $603.5K received

Primes report first-tier subawards of $30,000 or more themselves, and many go unreported (GAO-24-106214). Reporting moved from FSRS to SAM.gov in March 2025 and fewer sub-contracts have been reported since. Amounts are what primes reported; they are never added to prime award totals.

Source: Subawards (first-tier sub-contracts and sub-grants reported under FFATA) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov (reports filed in SAM.gov, formerly FSRS)), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026 · Subawards loaded from FY2021.

Teaming partners

Companies this company reported paying, primes that reported paying it, from FFATA subaward reports.

Companies it pays

No subawards reported to other companies.

Primes that pay it

1 company · $60.4M reported

  1. CENTRAL RESEARCH INC$60.4M
    LOWELL, AR · 25 subawards · Activities related to credit intermediation

Primes report first-tier subawards of $30,000 or more themselves, and many go unreported (GAO-24-106214). Reporting moved from FSRS to SAM.gov in March 2025 and fewer sub-contracts have been reported since. Amounts are what primes reported; they are never added to prime award totals.

Source: Subawards (first-tier sub-contracts and sub-grants reported under FFATA) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov (reports filed in SAM.gov, formerly FSRS)), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026 · Subawards loaded from 2021.

Competitors

Companies that win from the same buyers in the same markets: obligations by agency and industry compared over the last three fiscal years.

Compared on 1 market (agency × industry), FY2024–FY2026.

  1. EDFINANCIAL SERVICES LLC$636.2M−19% in FY2026
    KNOXVILLE, TN · 57% of this company's obligations are in markets they both serveEducation · Activities related to credit intermediation
  2. MISSOURI HIGHER EDUCATION LOAN AUTHORITY$602.1M−43% in FY2026
    CHESTERFIELD, MO · 54% of this company's obligations are in markets they both serveEducation · Activities related to credit intermediation
  3. MAXIMUS FEDERAL SERVICES, INC.$4.1B−53% in FY2026
    MCLEAN, VA · 12 entities · 77% of this company's obligations are in markets they both serveEducation · Activities related to credit intermediation

Showing the top 3 of 11 competitors. Open the profile for the full list.

Who sells to the same buyers in the same markets, not who wins against whom on a given contract. Prime contract obligations by the agency and NAICS code of each award; subawards are never added. A company is a family of legal entities, joined by parent UEI or, in part, by an AI reading of names.

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 6, 2026, loaded Oct 6, 2026 · FY2024–FY2026.

Lobbying and PAC activity

Organizations in House lobbying disclosures and FEC records whose names an AI judgment matched to this company. Those records carry no identifier shared with contracts, so every match is by name.

Matched organizations

  • NELNET, INC.AI match · 95%
Lobbying · 2025
$780K
8 reports
Lobbying · 2023–2026
$2.4M
$2.4M in its own reports
PAC giving · 2026
$129.5K
1 PAC

Lobbying by year

  1. 2023$450K
    8 reports
  2. 2024$720K
    9 reports
  3. 2025$780K
    8 reports
  4. 2026$450K
    4 reports

Top issues

  1. Financial institutions, investments and securities15 reports
  2. Banking14 reports
  3. Education14 reports
  4. Bankruptcy2 reports
  5. Energy and nuclear2 reports

Who was contacted

  1. U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES29 reports
  2. U.S. SENATE24 reports
  3. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)15 reports
  4. Education - Dept of14 reports
  5. Federal Reserve System14 reports
  6. White House Office14 reports
  7. Office of Management & Budget (OMB)7 reports
  8. Treasury - Dept of5 reports
  9. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)3 reports
  10. Executive Office of the President (EOP)1 reports

Houses of Congress and federal agencies the reports list as contacted (a report names every one for all its issues).

Lobbying firms hired

  1. Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP$380K
    7 reports
  2. Acumen Strategies LLC$280K
    8 reports

Registrants who are individuals are counted, not named.

PAC giving to candidates by party, 2026 cycle

  1. Republican$87K67%
  2. Democratic$42.5K33%

PACs sponsored

  • NELNET INC PAC (NELNET PAC)$340K raised this cycle

PACs these organizations sponsor (connected organizations in FEC records). A PAC gives employees' and members' voluntary contributions, not the company's own money.

Lobbying amounts are the filers' own good-faith estimates on quarterly LD-2 reports (the law asks for amounts rounded to $10,000; under $5,000 need not be itemized), latest amendment only. When an organization files its own report, it replaces what outside firms report for it that quarter. Matches are by name. Lobbying and political giving are legal and public: they show engagement with government, not influence over any award. Correlation is not influence: these organizations' lobbying and their contracts are shown side by side, and nothing here implies either affected the other.

Source: Lobbying disclosures (LD-1 registrations, LD-2 quarterly reports, LD-203 contribution reports) (Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives), data current to Oct 6, 2026, loaded Oct 6, 2026 · 2023–2026.

Source: Committees, candidates and committee contributions to candidates (Federal Election Commission), data current to Oct 6, 2026, loaded Oct 6, 2026 · 2026, 2024, 2022.

Matches: Analisa AI name judgments (entity-match@1), updated Sep 30, 2026.

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 6, 2026, loaded Oct 6, 2026.