Rural Business Cooperative Services

The Department of Agriculture Rural Housing Service Washington Office Rural Business Cooperative Services is a civilian sub-agency within USDA that administers contract work and distributes grants for rural business and agricultural development, with a specific focus on rural housing, cooperative services, and value-added agricultural initiatives.

The agency's contract portfolio spans 44 awards totaling $80 million in combined potential value, with $70.9 million obligated to date. Contract activity has been episodic: 10 awards in 2022, 2 in 2023, 2 in 2024, 1 in 2025, and 6 year-to-date in 2026. The most recent award closed on September 30, 2026. Among prime contractors active in the last five years, Summit Technology Consulting Group, LLC dominates, holding 4 awards worth $35.6 million in combined potential value. The top five primes by potential value account for 71% of recent contract dollars, indicating a concentrated competitive landscape. Sundance Consultants, LLC ($11.5 million), Nakupuna Consulting LLC ($5.6 million), Savan Group, LLC ($2.4 million), and The Newberry Group, Inc. ($1.9 million) round out the leading group. The remaining 25 primes share the balance. Contract set-asides are minimal: 77% of awards carry no set-aside designation; 11% are 8(a) sole-source awards; and 2% are small-business set-asides.

Grant activity far exceeds contract volume. The agency has issued 50,310 grants obligating $7.29 billion in federal dollars since the program inception, with an additional $688 million in non-federal cost-share, for a combined total of $7.98 billion. Recent-year cadence shows 2,449 awards in 2022, 4,921 in 2023, 5,828 in 2024, 2,152 in 2025, and 204 year-to-date in 2026. The most recent grant award closed on June 29, 2026. Grant awards are highly fragmented across 30,880 distinct recipients. The top recipients by award count—Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation (16 awards, $3.7 million federal), Mass Museum of Contemp Art (15 awards, $456 thousand), and Wiregrass Georgia Technical College (14 awards, $1.2 million)—collectively hold negligible volume. By federal dollars, The Reinvestment Fund, Inc. leads with 7 awards obligating $163 million; however, this top-five group accounts for only 3% of recent federal dollars, reflecting extreme grant-recipient fragmentation. Virtually all grant awards (50,309 of 50,310) are Project Grants; a single Formula Grant rounds out the mix.

Two recent grant solicitations are open: the Agriculture Innovation Center Grant Program (RBCS-2026-AIC, due January 31, 2027) supporting technical-assistance centers for value-added agricultural marketing, and the Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program Phase 3 Round 2 (RD-RBS-26-03-MPPEP, due December 7, 2026) targeting expansion of invasive wild-caught catfish processing capacity and rural employment. Both solicitations accept applications from nonprofits, state and local governments, tribal entities, small businesses, and for-profit organizations.

The Department of Agriculture's Rural Business and Cooperative programs provide support for rural businesses primarily through grants and loans.