Collection agencies (NAICS 561440): a small award count, large obligations

One hundred twenty-one awards hold $2.70 billion

Dividing $2,695,888,899.93 by 121 produces about $22.3 million per award. Among service NAICS codes, that ratio usually signals a handful of large vehicles rather than a long tail of small purchase orders. The packet does not identify those vehicles. It only supports the two inputs to the ratio: the obligation sum and the award count.

Collection Agencies, in Census usage, covers establishments that collect payments for claims and remit the proceeds minus a fee. On a federal contract the same words are a NAICS label. They do not disclose which debts, which agencies’ receivables, or which fee terms were in the statement of work. Those details, if public, live on the award records, not in this packet.

Why the award count is the story

Many industries in this USAspending.gov extract show thousands of actions. NAICS 561440 shows 121. Readers who only look at the $2,695,888,899.93 may miss how tightly the dollars sit. Each modification that keeps 561440 still adds a row, so 121 is already an action count, not necessarily 121 unique companies.

Because the set is small, a single large modification can move the industry total by a visible share. That is a property of the arithmetic, not a finding about collection performance or about whether the contracts succeeded. The live industry page is where individual actions can be opened.

Obligations are not recovered debts

Federal procurement obligations record what the government committed to pay the contractor. They are not the face value of debts assigned for collection, and they are not the dollars returned to the Treasury. Outlays to the vendor would be a third series. This industry page publishes the first series only: $2,695,888,899.93 obligated on tagged contracts.

Contracts versus assistance

NAICS 561440 in this file comes from contract awards. Assistance awards may not carry NAICS, so a grant that funded related administrative work would not appear here. The source note on the packet is explicit: assistance awards may not carry NAICS. Keep grants on program pages and keep 561440 on the contract industry hub.

Where to read the 121 rows

The Collection Agencies industry page is the overlay for the underlying USAspending.gov actions. Use it to inspect recipients and awarding organizations. The all-industries index situates $2.70 billion among other codes. This guide does not add names, years, or recovery rates beyond the packet facts.

Citing collection-agency contracts without inventing recoveries

Quote $2,695,888,899.93 as USAspending contract obligations on 121 awards tagged NAICS 561440. Do not describe that number as money pulled in from debtors. Contractor compensation and debt recovery are different ledgers. If a statement of work is contingency-fee based, the public award feed still records the government’s obligation to the vendor, not the stock of claims placed.

Concentration is real in the two packet facts: 121 actions, $2.70 billion. Concentration is not a verdict. A small number of governmentwide collection vehicles can produce exactly this shape. Converting 121 into 121 collection firms overstates uniqueness; modifications that keep the code inflate the count. The industry table lists the records.

Outlays are absent from the packet. A collection contractor may invoice as work is performed while the obligation was recorded up front. De-obligations reduce the $2,695,888,899.93 without meaning that debts vanished. Warehouse refreshes can move both dollars and the 121-award count. Treat the live hub as current and this guide as a reading of the packet.

Do not mix 561440 with 561499 (all other business support) or with credit-intermediation NAICS. Those codes, when used, sit on their own industry pages. Quote USAspending.gov, quote obligations, quote 121 awards, and stop. Assistance without NAICS stays outside the total.

Because 121 is a small denominator, percentage talk about “share of federal contracting” needs a national total this packet does not supply. Stay with the two facts: $2,695,888,899.93 obligated and 121 awards. If a vehicle is recompeted and the successor award uses a different NAICS, the industry total can drop sharply. That movement is a coding change until the live table is checked, not proof that collection work ended.

Readers quoting this industry should keep two packet facts in one sentence: $2,695,888,900 in USAspending.gov contract obligations and 121 awards tagged NAICS 561440 (COLLECTION AGENCIES). Dropping either figure hides whether the book is a few large vehicles or many small orders. The rounded obligation used for citation is $2,695,888,900; cents on the source total, if any, do not change the industry identity of the code.

COLLECTION AGENCIES shows a small award-record count (121). A handful of vehicles can dominate the obligation stock. Do not read that shape as a completeness claim or as a vendor census. Administrative and support codes record tagged service contracts, not square footage cleaned or acres mowed. COLLECTION AGENCIES is the NAICS on the award. Record corrections in the USAspending.gov warehouse can move both the $2,695,888,900 and the 121-award count. Treat the live COLLECTION AGENCIES industry page as current and this file as a reading of the harvested packet.

Internal comparison belongs on the all-industries index, where NAICS 561440 sits beside other six-digit contract totals. Adding neighboring codes by hand creates a new total this packet does not contain; cite each NAICS if you add. Assistance awards that omit NAICS remain outside $2,695,888,900. Outlays remain unpublished here. Quote obligations, quote 121 awards, cite USAspending.gov, and open the overlay hub for recipients rather than inventing agencies, fiscal years, or unit counts the packet does not list.

Questions

How much is obligated under collection-agency NAICS 561440?

Federal contract awards tagged NAICS 561440 show $2,695,888,899.93 in obligations. That is a USAspending.gov contract total, not a measure of debts collected from the public and not an outlay figure. USAspending.gov is the source for the $2,695,888,900 obligation stock and the 121 contract awards tagged COLLECTION AGENCIES (NAICS 561440). Assistance awards that omit NAICS are outside both figures.

Why are there only 121 awards?

The indexed extract contains 121 contract actions with this NAICS. Collection work may be bought through a small number of large contracts. The packet does not list vendors; 121 is the action count, including modifications that keep the code. Keep the citation on contract obligations: $2,695,888,900 on 121 awards coded NAICS 561440. Outlays, grants without NAICS, and unit counts are not in the packet that produced this page.

Is the $2.70 billion what agencies recovered?

No. It is what the government obligated on contracts coded Collection Agencies. Recovered debts, contingency fees, and outlays to vendors are different figures and are not in the packet. The industry hub lists the underlying USAspending.gov rows. This answer restates only packet facts: NAICS 561440, $2,695,888,900 obligated, and 121 awards for COLLECTION AGENCIES.

Do grants to collection firms show up here?

Only if they are contract awards with NAICS 561440. Assistance awards often lack NAICS and are omitted from the $2,695,888,899.93 and the 121-award count. Do not treat 121 as establishments or $2,695,888,900 as cash disbursed. Both numbers describe USAspending.gov contract actions tagged NAICS 561440 (COLLECTION AGENCIES), not assistance and not outlays.