Federal contractor · LONG BEACH, CA

ROCKET LAB USA INC

ROCKET LAB USA INC received $20.1M in federal contract obligations in FY2026, on 6 awards (+45% vs FY2025). Since FY2017: $88.9M. Its largest customer was National Aeronautics and Space Administration ($20.1M).

Obligations · FY2026: $20.1M
New awards: 6
Sole-source: 0.0%
Single offer: 96%

UEI: EUXNBKLC23G1

Small business

Open in the contracts explorer Relationship graph

Spending by fiscal year

Obligations per federal fiscal year (October–September).

0FY2017
6.5MFY2018
0FY2019
9.9MFY2020
1.5MFY2021
371KFY2022
15.2MFY2023
21.3MFY2024
13.9MFY2025
20.1MFY2026

Top buying agencies

Obligations in FY2026.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration$20.1M100.0%
5 awards
Missile Defense Agency$5000.0%
1 awards

What was bought · Where the work was performed

Obligations in FY2026.

What was bought

Transportation & logistics$19.7M98%
Research & development$391.4K1.9%

Where the work was performed

Los Angeles County, CA$20.1M100.0%
Madison County, AL$5000.0%

Integrity signals

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

Low competition96%
US 39% · $19.3M
Sole-source awards0.0%
US 30% · $0
Single-offer competitions96%
US 8.8% · $19.3M
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

VENTURE-CLASS ACQUISITION OF DEDICATED AND RIDESHARE (VADR) UMBRELLA TASK ORDER$51.6M
National Aeronautics and Space Administration· Los Angeles County, CA· Transportation & logistics· Mar 29, 2023 – Sep 9, 2026· 80KSC023FA107
THE CONTRACTOR SHALL DEVELOP GEN 1 SOLAR SAIL MISSION CONCEPTS THAT WILL ADDRESS THE OBJECTIVES OF A FUTURE IMPLEMENTATION PLAN IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE MANIFEST REQUIREMENTS DOCUMENT (MRD) TITLED T0412 GEN1 SOLAR SAIL DEMONSTRATION$546.5K
National Aeronautics and Space Administration· Los Angeles County, CA· Transportation & logistics· Sep 26, 2025 – Dec 1, 2025· 80AFRC25FA060
DEVELOP GEOSPACE DYNAMICS CONSTELLATION (GDC) TRAILBLAZER MISSION CONCEPTS THAT WILL ADDRESS THE OBJECTIVES OF A FUTURE IMPLEMENTATION PLAN IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE MANIFEST REQUIREMENTS DOCUMENT (MRD) TITLED T0433 GDC TRAILBLAZER$432.7K
National Aeronautics and Space Administration· Los Angeles County, CA· Transportation & logistics· May 28, 2026 – Jul 23, 2026· 80AFRC26FA041
MARS END-TO-END COMMUNICATION SERVICE ARCHITECTURES: STUDIES TO ADVANCE END-TO-END COMMUNICATION SOLUTIONS FOR MARS EXPLORATION, IDENTIFYING PERFORMANCE NEEDS AND COMMERCIAL SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES.$390.9K
National Aeronautics and Space Administration· Los Angeles County, CA· Research & development· Feb 23, 2026 – Feb 23, 2026· 80GSFC26C0008
MINIMUM GUARANTEED$25K
National Aeronautics and Space Administration· Los Angeles County, CA· Transportation & logistics· Apr 25, 2024 – Dec 1, 2025· 80AFRC24FA027
SCALABLE HOMELAND INNOVATIVE ENTERPRISE LAYERED DEFENSE (SHIELD) INITIAL ORDER.$500
Missile Defense Agency· Madison County, AL· Research & development· Dec 5, 2025 – Jun 4, 2026· HQ085926FE799

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

FY2021: $0 paid out · $49.2M received
FY2023: $0 paid out · $750K received
FY2024: $0 paid out · $1.4M received
FY2025: $0 paid out · $507.1K 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 8, 2026, loaded Oct 8, 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

6 companies · $51.9M reported

THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA$32.4M
OAKLAND, CA · 1 subaward · Scientific research and development services
GENERAL ATOMICS$16.8M
SAN DIEGO, CA · 2 subawards · Nonscheduled air transportation
SOUTHWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE$1.3M
SAN ANTONIO, TX · 4 subawards · Aerospace product and parts manufacturing

Showing the top 3 of each list. Open the profile for potential partners and the full lists.

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 6 markets (agency × industry), FY2024–FY2026.

ARROW SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, L.L.C.$27.8M+46,890% in FY2026
WEBSTER, TX · 50% of this company's obligations are in markets they both serveNational Aeronautics and Space Administration · Nonscheduled air transportation
RUSSIA SPACE AGENCY$19.4M−24% in FY2026
MOSCOW, RUS · 35% of this company's obligations are in markets they both serveNational Aeronautics and Space Administration · Nonscheduled air transportation
ASTROBOTIC TECHNOLOGY INC$113.1M+122% in FY2026
PITTSBURGH, PA · 74% of this company's obligations are in markets they both serveNational Aeronautics and Space Administration · Nonscheduled air transportationNational Aeronautics and Space Administration · Scientific research and development servicesAir Force · Scientific research and development services

Showing the top 3 of 25 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 7, 2026, loaded Oct 7, 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

ROCKET LAB USA, INC.AI match · 100%
ROCKET LAB CORPORATIONAI match · 99%

Lobbying · 2025: $1M; 18 reports
Lobbying · 2023–2026: $3.1M; $3.1M in its own reports
PAC giving · 2026: $106.8K; 1 PAC

Lobbying by year

2023$600K
8 reports
2024$830K
11 reports
2025$1M
18 reports
2026$580K
10 reports

Top issues

Aerospace29 reports
Budget and appropriations15 reports
Defense14 reports
Science and technology5 reports

Who was contacted

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES47 reports
U.S. SENATE47 reports
Natl Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA)11 reports
Defense - Dept of (DOD)8 reports
Commerce - Dept of (DOC)7 reports
Executive Office of the President (EOP)6 reports
Transportation - Dept of (DOT)5 reports
Federal Communications Commission (FCC)4 reports
State - Dept of (DOS)4 reports
Office of Management & Budget (OMB)3 reports

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

Lobbying firms hired

DLA Piper LLP (US)$740K
14 reports
Venture Government Strategies, LLC (fka Hobart Hallaway & Quayle Ventures, LLC)$430K
9 reports
GUIDEPOSTSTRATEGIES, LLC$240K
3 reports
J.Sullivan Advocacy$140K
6 reports
ASCENT PUBLIC POLICY & STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS, LLC$45K
1 reports

Registrants who are individuals are counted, not named.

PAC giving to candidates by party, 2026 cycle

Republican$76.5K72%
Democratic$30.3K28%

PACs sponsored

ROCKET LAB CORPORATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE (ROCKET LAB PAC)$180.8K 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 7, 2026, loaded Oct 7, 2026 · 2023–2026.

Source: Committees, candidates and committee contributions to candidates (Federal Election Commission), data current to Oct 8, 2026, loaded Oct 8, 2026 · 2026, 2024, 2022.

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

Congress: members and bills

Through the organizations matched to this company: members of Congress whose campaigns received contributions from their PACs, and the bills their lobbying reports named. Shown beside the company's contracts as a comparison, not a cause.

Members whose campaigns received from its PACs, 2026 cycle

Cindy Hyde-Smith$10K
R-MS · Senate · 1 PAC
Jennifer A. Kiggans$10K
R-VA-2 · House · 1 PAC
Mark R. Warner$7,500
D-VA · Senate · 1 PAC
Robert J. Wittman$5,000
R-VA-1 · House · 1 PAC
Scott DesJarlais$4,000
R-TN-4 · House · 1 PAC
Mike Ezell$3,500
R-MS-4 · House · 1 PAC
Johnny Olszewski, Jr.$3,500
D-MD-2 · House · 1 PAC
Dan Sullivan$3,500
R-AK · Senate · 1 PAC
Brian Babin$2,500
R-TX-36 · House · 1 PAC
Katie Boyd Britt$2,500
R-AL · Senate · 1 PAC

$105.3K of the $108.8K its PACs gave to federal candidates went to 50 members of Congress.

Members whose campaigns received from its PACs, 2024 cycle

Martin Heinrich$6,600
D-NM · Senate · 1 PAC
Harold Rogers$5,000
R-KY-5 · House · 1 PAC
Ken Calvert$4,300
R-CA-41 · House · 1 PAC
Jennifer A. Kiggans$3,500
R-VA-2 · House · 1 PAC
Robert J. Wittman$3,500
R-VA-1 · House · 1 PAC

Direct and in-kind contributions the members' campaigns received (FEC), net of refunds. Party and seat are the member's current or latest.

Bills named in its lobbying reports

H.R. 4016 · Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 202610 reports
119th Congress · Passed one chamber · 2025–2026
H.R. 8774 · Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 20258 reports
118th Congress · Passed one chamber · 2024
H.R. 9026 · Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 20258 reports
118th Congress · Reported by committee · 2024
H.R. 4365 · Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 20247 reports
118th Congress · Passed one chamber · 2023–2025
S. 2587 · Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 20247 reports

Amounts, members and bills are as recorded, shown side by side. They say nothing about why a contribution was made, how a member voted or what a report sought. A bill number written in a report is read as the measure of the Congress its context points to (a law's number, the Congress written next to it, the title), else of the Congress then sitting.

Source: Committees, candidates and committee contributions to candidates (Federal Election Commission), data current to Oct 8, 2026, loaded Oct 8, 2026.

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 7, 2026, loaded Oct 7, 2026.

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 7, 2026, loaded Oct 7, 2026.