WFP Will Extend Its Contract with Palantir Despite Audit Findings on Privacy
The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) is finalizing the extension of its current five-year agreement with the U.S. company Palantir, despite concerns about data protection raised in an internal audit. France 24 reported this, citing a leaked document from the WFP’s Office of the Inspector General and a spokesperson for the agency.
Palantir developed the Digital Operations and Transformation System (DOTS) for the WFP, which helps track humanitarian aid and manage supply chain data. The WFP also manages the SCOPE system, which contains information on millions of people, including recipients of humanitarian aid.
A WFP internal audit dated August 2025 points to inadequate risk management and a lack of appropriate privacy rules and policies in the agency’s relationship with Palantir. The document states that key privacy issues raised by internal and external stakeholders since the beginning of the partnership have not been adequately addressed. The issue has been classified as a high priority.
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The audit also revealed the absence of a clearly defined exit strategy from the DOTS system and a lack of clarity regarding potential costs in the event the partnership is terminated. According to France 24 sources, an extension of the agreement was scheduled to be signed in August. A WFP representative stated that the general terms and conditions of the agreement would remain the same as in the 2019 contract.
Some WFP employees expressed concerns that the agency’s data on aid recipients could potentially be used to train or improve Palantir’s software systems. The company stated that it does not use, store, or sell customer data for its own purposes and does not train models on it.
The WFP, for its part, reported that it conducts thorough vendor vetting, maintains control over its own data, and enforces strict requirements for data management, privacy, and security. The contract with Palantir, signed in 2019 and valued at $45 million, was described by the WFP as free of charge to the agency. At the same time, the UN procurement portal contains records of payments to Palantir totaling more than $10.5 million between 2017 and 2024.
