The Federal Government is one big conglomerate of many agencies.  Each agency has its’ own initiatives and culture that as a small business owner looking to do business, needs to understand.

So, how many agencies of the Federal Government are there?  The answer may be a little confusing.  That is because the answer varies greatly depending on the source.  According to USA.gov, there are 137 independent executive agencies.  However, according to Federal Register, there are 441.  WOW!  That’s quite a discrepancy.  I’m going to steer clear of sharing my thoughts on why there would be such a difference in information – especially since both of these sites are operated by our federal government.  Actually, the more I research in an attempt to uncover the true number, the more confusion I uncover.

Through my research, I have uncovered the number of agencies that make up our federal government to be anywhere from 61 all the way up to 441.

As a small business owner, the important fact to take away from this is that there are plenty of agencies out there with its’ own unique initiatives. Therefore they each will offer different opportunities to do business.

According to usaspending.gov, the following is a list of the top 10 agencies that were allocated the most money:

Department of the Treasury (TREAS)

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

Department of Defense (DOD)

Social Security Administration (SSA)

Office of Personnel Management (OPM)

Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)

Department of Agriculture (USDA)

Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

Department of Transportation (DOT)

Clicking on each agency, you will be able to view more detailed information such as the mission of the agency as well as a breakdown of where the money is allocated within the agency.