Carahsoft’s Top Partner Award from New Relic Cements Its Role in Public Sector Tech

RESTON, VA – June 09, 2026 – Carahsoft Technology Corp. was recently named the 2026 Global Distribution Partner of the Year by intelligent observability firm New Relic, a recognition that speaks volumes more about strategic alignment than a single year’s performance. While the award celebrates the Reston-based firm’s strong growth and exceptional service, it primarily illuminates the critical, and often unseen, role that specialized distributors play in bridging the gap between cutting-edge technology and the complex world of government procurement.

The partnership, active since 2015, has been instrumental in expanding the reach of New Relic's sophisticated monitoring tools across federal, state, and local government agencies. "Carahsoft has played a critical role in expanding New Relic’s reach across the Public Sector by delivering consistent results and empowering our partners and customers with the tools they need to drive mission success,” said Shannon Batson, Director of Cloud Sales at New Relic. Batson highlighted the distributor's ability "to execute at scale, foster trusted relationships across the ecosystem and support strategic growth initiatives" as key factors in the decision.

For Carahsoft, the accolade is a validation of its long-term strategy. "This award reflects the goals our teams have achieved together in expanding New Relic’s footprint across the Public Sector,” stated Tiffany Goddard, Program Executive for Customer Experience and Engagement Solutions at Carahsoft. "Our collaboration is rooted in a shared commitment to delivering innovative observability solutions that help agencies operate with greater efficiency and insight." This shared commitment has translated into a powerful engine for growth, one built on a deep understanding of both technology and bureaucracy.

The 'Master Aggregator' Advantage in Government IT

To understand the significance of this award, one must first understand Carahsoft's unique position in the market. Operating as "The Trusted Government IT Solutions Provider®" and a "Master Government Aggregator®," the company has built a formidable business by specializing in the public sector. With revenues reportedly exceeding $16 billion in 2023 and a team of over 3,200 professionals, Carahsoft is not merely a reseller; it is a strategic channel orchestrator.

The public sector market is notoriously difficult for technology vendors to penetrate alone. It is a maze of complex procurement regulations, stringent compliance requirements like FedRAMP, and long sales cycles. This is where Carahsoft’s model thrives. The company manages a vast ecosystem, supporting thousands of technology manufacturers and tens of thousands of reseller partners. Crucially, it holds commanding positions on the most vital government contract vehicles, including GSA Schedule, NASA SEWP V, and NASPO ValuePoint. Industry estimates suggest Carahsoft manages over 40% of software-related transactions on some of these key contracts, giving its partners unparalleled access and speed to market.

While large-scale global distributors like TD SYNNEX or Ingram Micro compete on breadth and logistics, Carahsoft and its government-focused counterparts, such as immixGroup and DLT Solutions, compete on specialization. Carahsoft’s success with New Relic demonstrates the value of this focused approach. The company doesn't just list a product; it actively drives demand through a meticulously planned series of initiatives. For New Relic, this included monthly call blitzes to build sales pipelines, support for multiple targeted sales campaigns, and the execution of seven distinct marketing campaigns within a year to build awareness and accelerate adoption. This hands-on, strategic execution is what separates a master aggregator from a simple distributor.

Modernizing Operations with Intelligent Observability

The technology at the heart of this partnership—intelligent observability—is becoming a cornerstone of government modernization efforts. As agencies migrate from legacy on-premise systems to complex hybrid and multi-cloud environments, the tools used to monitor IT health must evolve. Simple monitoring, which tracks the health of individual components, is no longer sufficient. Observability provides a holistic, end-to-end view of a system's performance, allowing IT teams to understand not just that something is wrong, but why.

New Relic’s platform provides a unified view of metrics, events, logs, and traces, giving agencies the deep insights needed to ensure their digital services are reliable, secure, and performant. For a government agency, this could mean ensuring a citizen-facing benefits portal doesn't crash during peak demand, protecting sensitive data from cyber threats, or quickly troubleshooting a glitch in a critical internal system. With New Relic having attained FedRAMP Moderate Impact for its services—a crucial security authorization for federal cloud adoption—Carahsoft is able to deliver a compliant, high-demand solution.

Despite its importance, public sector adoption of observability has lagged behind the private sector. Recent studies show over half of public sector organizations are still "beginners" in their observability journey, often citing underfunding and the complexity of managing a sprawl of disparate monitoring tools. However, the tide is turning. As agencies grapple with digital transformation, the need for comprehensive oversight is undeniable. This partnership effectively tackles these adoption barriers by combining New Relic’s powerful, compliant platform with Carahsoft’s procurement expertise and market education efforts, making it easier for agencies to acquire and implement these transformative tools.

A Decade-Long Strategy Pays Off

The 2026 award is not the result of a single banner year but the culmination of a deliberate, decade-long strategy. Since Carahsoft began distributing New Relic’s solutions to the public sector in 2015, the partnership has been characterized by consistent, methodical execution. The sales and marketing blitzes mentioned in the award announcement are not just activities; they are components of a sustained campaign to embed New Relic's technology within the government ecosystem.

This long-term view is essential for success in the public sector. By providing ongoing visibility into public sector usage to ensure compliance and delivering continuous sales enablement to its vast network of reseller partners, Carahsoft has built a durable foundation for New Relic's growth. This deep, collaborative relationship allows New Relic to focus on product innovation while Carahsoft manages the complex machinery of government sales and marketing.

The future of the partnership looks equally promising. In April 2025, New Relic announced significant enhancements to its global partner program, introducing stronger incentives, new technical and sales certifications, and specialized tracks, including one focused on AI. This aligns perfectly with the growing demand within government for AI-powered solutions. While public sector adoption of AIOps (AI for IT Operations) still trails other industries, the ROI for early adopters has reportedly exceeded expectations. As Carahsoft continues to educate its government clients on the benefits of AI in observability—from predictive analytics to automated root cause analysis—it is well-positioned to channel New Relic’s latest innovations into this receptive market. The strategic alliance between the observability pioneer and the master government aggregator continues to be a powerful force for modernizing how the public sector operates.