{
  "version": "3.33",
  "compiled": "2026-10-09",
  "site": "https://stateofwatch.com",
  "claim": {
    "id": "penlink-plx",
    "section": 1,
    "title": "ICE signs a no-bid contract for Penlink's PLX surveillance software",
    "date": "Mar 31, 2026",
    "sort": "2026-03-31",
    "status": "verified",
    "checked": "3.31",
    "note": "Federal award record read directly (Oct 3, 2026): signed March 31, work from April 1, which settles the date question flagged in v3.5. Prism's article and Penlink's statement read directly. Corrected Oct 3, 2026: earlier versions said PLX \"intercepts\" communications for real-time tracking, as Prism first wrote before revising it.",
    "category": "contract",
    "summary": "ICE signed a $2.9 million contract, potentially worth $8.3 million, for Penlink's PLX investigative software for the Homeland Security Task Force, without competition, through an Alaska Native-owned contractor. Prism Reports said PLX could let DHS track people's movements in real time; Penlink says PLX only analyzes data police have already obtained through legal process.",
    "body": "ICE signed the contract on March 31, 2026, with work starting April 1: $2,899,162.98 now and up to $8,310,148.26 with options through March 2029, for Penlink's PLX investigative software and support for the Homeland Security Task Force. It went to Chenega Defense and Aerospace Solutions without competition, under a statutory exception that lets Alaska Native-owned companies receive contracts directly. Penlink is owned by the private equity firm Spire Capital.\n\nPrism Reports first reported the contract and wrote that PLX \"could enable DHS to track people's movements in real time\" (it first said \"enables,\" and changed it on May 4). Penlink told Prism that PLX \"does not provide additional data to law enforcement, such as the real-time communications or location data that this article alleges.\" The contract follows a $2.3 million no-bid ICE contract in September 2025 for Penlink's Tangles and Webloc location tools, first reported by 404 Media.",
    "quotes": [
      {
        "text": "ICE and other Department of Homeland Security agencies are expanding their surveillance dragnet...",
        "from": "Sen. Ron Wyden, in an email to Prism Reports"
      }
    ],
    "sources": [
      {
        "label": "USAspending: ICE contract 70CMSD26C00000001 to Chenega Defense & Aerospace Solutions (Penlink PLX)",
        "primary": true,
        "url": "https://www.usaspending.gov/award/CONT_AWD_70CMSD26C00000001_7012_-NONE-_-NONE-"
      },
      {
        "label": "Prism Reports, Apr 29, 2026 (updated May 4 and 5)",
        "primary": true,
        "url": "https://prismreports.org/2026/04/29/dhs-surveillance-location-data-penlink-plx/"
      },
      {
        "label": "404 Media, Sept 30, 2025 (Tangles and Webloc)",
        "url": "https://www.404media.co/ice-to-buy-tool-that-tracks-locations-of-hundreds-of-millions-of-phones-every-day/"
      },
      {
        "label": "Wyden and others, letter to the DHS Inspector General on ICE location-data purchases (Mar 3, 2026)",
        "primary": true,
        "doc": "wyden-oig-penlink-letter"
      },
      {
        "label": "Wyden press release, Mar 3, 2026",
        "url": "https://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/wyden-espaillat-and-70-democrats-call-for-investigation-of-ice-dhs-warrantless-purchases-of-americans-location-data"
      }
    ],
    "places": [],
    "url": "https://stateofwatch.com/claims/penlink-plx"
  }
}