The administration of former President Donald Trump significantly increased its collaboration with Palantir, a tech company co-created by Peter Thiel, a friend of Trump. This augmentation comes in the wake of massive contract cancellations involving large consulting firms and government operatives such as Accenture, Booz Allen, and Deloitte. Now, Palantir is not only ahead, but is also offering partnerships to these organizations, providing a rescue plan while simultaneously strengthening its own position.
Palantir’s ties with the U.S government grew stronger under the administration known for its cost-cutting measures, and since the outset of the year, the company received over $113 million in federal expenditure. According to their latest quarterly report, their revenue from the US government has seen an increase of more than $370 million compared to the previous year.
Far from substituting these conventional contractors, Palantir’s software is evolving into the principal instrument utilized by them in government structures, establishing Palantir as a key player. The Oval Office expressed great anticipation concerning this alliance, while Palantir chose to remain silent when asked to comment.
During April, the tech company was cooperating with IRS developers to construct what insiders termed as a ‘mega API’, aiming to consolidate all the information across the agency. An API (Application Programming Interface) allows different applications and databases to exchange and potentially compare information with other compatible datasets. The intended outcome of this mega API is to potentially serve as the primary access point for all IRS systems.
During the same month, Palantir entered into a $30 million contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to monitor self-deportations. Notably, they also secured more recent federal contracts, such as a $795 million agreement with the Pentagon in May to broaden their Maven Smart System project. This has raised the total budget ceiling for the Army’s Maven Program to $1.3 billion.
This expansion occurs at a time when several companies, including those Palantir has opted to collaborate with, are facing severe losses due to cuts in government contracts. In April, the Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth revealed a plan to reduce $5.1 billion from IT consulting agreements involving companies like Accenture, Booz Allen, and Deloitte.
“The contracts signify unnecessary expenditure on external consultants to perform tasks that can be efficiently executed by our talented Department of Defense workforce using the resources we currently have”, stated Hegseth.
The nature of Palantir’s collaborations with these large entities varies, but all of them facilitate Palantir’s extension of its software and AI technology throughout the federal government. In partnership with Accenture’s government sector, Palantir plans to facilitate the training and certification of at least 1,000 Accenture employees on Foundry software and its AI technology.
The union of these companies could potentially offer a comprehensive overview of government agency budgets, an initiative that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been actively pursuing. Palantir’s transformation into a substantial government contractor itself suggests that joining forces with these larger entities could aid the software company to escalate rapidly, taking advantage of their well-established associations with virtually every federal agency.
Only last week, Palantir and Deloitte disclosed a collaboration that incorporates what they term as the ‘Enterprise Operating System’ (EOS), which aims to integrate data across various organizations. In agencies like the Internal Revenue Service, and reportedly the Social Security Administration (SSA), Palantir is already synchronizing agency data sets, which facilitates the exchange of information among previously detached data sets.
Some of these agreements predate the Trump administration. Booz Allen specifically partnered with Palantir in the previous December. The collaboration focused on the development of defense IT infrastructure.
The emergence of a single company that dominates the sphere of government software, becoming something akin to an ‘app factory,’ poses critical questions pertaining to fairness and competition. The presence of Palantir in every agency and being part of the defense and intelligence complex, raises significant concerns.
A former Palantir employee expressed apprehension about the company’s unique position, stating, “To have one company monopolize and become the gatekeeper of software in the government… brings huge concerns regarding fairness, regarding competition, and puts Palantir in a very unique position that maybe has never existed.”
The unique precendence that Palantir has set in being an integral part of nearly every federal agency signifies its extraordinary influence. Palantir’s growing dominance in government systems persists to be a key part of the narrative as the company further consolidates its existing power.
The post Palantir Expands its Influence Under Trump’s Administration appeared first on Real News Now.
About Author
