Montana-Dakotas Region

The Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management Montana-Dakotas is a civilian sub-agency within Interior that administers federal land and resource management contracts and grants across Montana and the Dakotas, funding conservation work, infrastructure, and land stewardship through a blend of competitive procurement and cooperative partnerships.

The agency has awarded 3,701 federal contracts since 2003, totaling $210.9 million in combined potential value, with $207.6 million obligated. Recent contract volume has moderated: 177 awards in 2022, 138 in 2023, 134 in 2024, 146 in 2025, and 95 year-to-date in 2026. Contract competition is highly fragmented, with the top five primes by award count holding only 10 percent of recent awards. Monture Creek Land Management, Inc. leads by award count with 30 awards across the last five years and $2.4 million combined potential value, followed by Relm Communications, Inc. and RF Construction LLC each with 11 awards. By potential value, Youderian Construction Inc. dominates with $5.9 million across six awards, though concentration by value remains minimal at 6 percent of combined potential value among the top five. The remaining 1,248 distinct prime contractors divide the portfolio; this contracting pattern reflects the agency's reliance on regional and local firms for land management, maintenance, and communications work. Set-aside activity is split evenly: 50 percent of awards carry no set-aside designation, while 47 percent are small-business set-asides (8(a), WOSB, SDVOSB, HUBZone, and emerging-small-business designations combined represent 2 percent).

Grant activity is substantially smaller. The agency has obligated $76.4 million in federal dollars across 362 grant awards since 2002, with combined non-federal share bringing total obligated value to $90 million. Grant volume has declined sharply: 30 awards in 2021, 33 in 2022, 43 in 2023, 45 in 2024, and 17 in 2025. Grants are predominantly Cooperative Agreements (99 percent) with minimal Project Grant activity (1 percent). Grant recipient concentration is moderately concentrated, with the top five by award count holding 30 percent of recent awards. Montana Conservation Corps, Inc. leads by award count with 13 awards and $4.1 million federal dollars obligated, while University of Montana holds the largest federal share with $5 million across seven awards. Montana Department of Environmental Quality ranks second by federal dollars with $5.8 million across two awards. The remaining 118 distinct recipients are predominantly state agencies, universities, and conservation organizations operating across the region.