The US General Services Administration has rewritten its OneGov agreement with OpenAI. The old deal, one dollar per agency per year, was a promotional price. The new one runs 27 months and bills by consumption.
The terms: from October 1, 2026, a 50% discount on token pricing across ChatGPT models, plus a $15 per user per month licensing fee. No platform access fee, no minimum order, no spending commitment. The security tools are in there too: Daybreak Blue at 50% off, Daybreak Red at standard pricing.
The eligible population is large. GSA puts it at roughly 23 million people across federal, state, local and tribal entities. More than a million government workers already use ChatGPT, according to the agency.
Laura Stanton, GSA’s acting commissioner, framed the switch this way: «As agencies increasingly integrate AI into their regular operations, consumption-based access is the next logical step.»
The interesting part is on the calendar
The equivalent agreements with Anthropic and Google expire on September 30, 2026. Whether they get renewed, and on what terms, is open. OpenAI is the first out of the one-dollar phase and into a long contract.
That’s an advantage, and not a small one. Having predictable pricing locked in for the next two years while competitors are still negotiating puts you in the room for every agency currently planning its 2027 budget.
What the switch actually means
A dollar a year was never a price, it was a door. The point was to get the tools into agency workflows, and it worked. Now comes the part where usage costs money, in proportion to what actually runs.
For most agencies that means one thing: more expensive than before. A 50% discount is a lot, but compared to a dollar it’s infinitely more. Which is exactly why the one-dollar phase was smart – after a year of use, the question is no longer whether to adopt AI, only whose.
Why this is here
Because the same mechanism is playing out everywhere, just at different scales. Cheap allowances first, metered billing after. If you’re rolling a tool out to an agency, a company, or even a team, know the date the introductory price ends.
For Anthropic the next three weeks matter. If the Claude agreement lapses without a successor, that’s access lost to a market where habits are forming right now.
Sources: Nextgov/FCW: GSA unveils new, token-based OneGov discount with OpenAI · Bloomberg: OpenAI Gives US Agencies 50% Off Models, Ending $1 Per Year Deal · FedScoop: OneGov AI deals are ending