Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs

The Department of State Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES) is a civilian sub-agency that funds international ocean governance, environmental science, and scientific capacity-building work through a combination of federal contracts and grant awards.

OES has awarded 788 federal contracts totaling $161.1 million in combined potential value since 2007, with $129.6 million obligated. Contract activity has declined sharply in recent years: 33 awards in 2022, 22 in 2023, 35 in 2024, 5 in 2025, and 3 year-to-date in 2026, with the most recent award recorded as of September 30, 2026. The contract competitive base is moderately concentrated, with the top five primes holding 71 percent of recent awards by count but only 15 percent of combined potential value. Creative It Solutions LLC leads by award count with 23 awards and $12.6 million potential value, followed by the National Academy of Sciences with 18 awards ($2 million) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science with 14 awards ($517 thousand). Most contracts carry no set-aside designation (73 percent), with small-business set-asides comprising 10 percent of awards and 8(a) sole-source designations accounting for 6 percent.

OES has awarded 572 federal grants totaling $3.17 billion in combined federal obligation since 2008, with activity averaging 44 awards per year over the last five years (44 awards in 2021, 70 in 2022, 40 in 2023, 51 in 2024, and 11 in 2025). The most recent grant award closed on November 17, 2025. The grant recipient base is concentrated, with the top five recipients holding 50 percent of recent federal dollars. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development dominates by federal dollars obligated with $1.31 billion across 10 awards, followed distantly by the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency ($177 million), Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Economico e Social ($53.5 million), the United Nations Environment Programme ($30.6 million), and the World Resources Institute ($22.2 million). Grant awards are predominantly Project Grants (65 percent) with a substantial Cooperative Agreement component (35 percent).

Among current opportunities, OES through its Office of Ocean and Polar Affairs is soliciting applications for seabed mapping, exploration, and habitat characterization work in Pacific Island Countries via Cooperative Agreement (DFOP0019432), with an August 14, 2026 due date and private higher-education institutions eligible to apply.