DOI Fish and Wildlife Service Region 3

Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Region 3 is a civilian sub-agency within the Department of Interior that administers federal wildlife conservation contracts and grants across the Midwest, funding species habitat protection, wetland restoration, and conservation partnerships with state fish and wildlife agencies and nonprofit organizations.

The Region executes both contract and grant work at material scale. On the contract side, the Region has awarded 9,722 contracts totaling $517.1 million in combined potential value since 2001, with $471.4 million obligated to date. Recent activity has accelerated: 109 awards in 2022, 71 in 2023, 132 in 2024, 312 in 2025, and 272 year-to-date in 2026. The competitive landscape is highly fragmented—the top five primes by award count hold only 11 percent of recent awards—with Kearns & West Inc. leading at 24 awards and $2.9 million combined potential value, followed by Lake Contracting, Inc. at 21 awards and $1.4 million. By dollar value, concentration remains fragmented at 3 percent coverage among the top five, with Huot Construction and Services, Inc. reporting the largest value at $5.3 million across five awards. Across the portfolio, 3,252 distinct contractors have been awarded work. The set-aside mix is dominated by open competition—68 percent of awards carry no set-aside designation—with small-business set-asides comprising 30 percent of awards, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business accounting for 1 percent, and all other designations totaling 1 percent or less.

Grant activity is substantial and concentrated among state natural-resource agencies. The Region has issued 3,228 grants obligating $2.67 billion in federal dollars since 2010, with most recent activity in April 2026. Annual cadence ran 360 awards in 2022, 391 in 2023, 376 in 2024, 312 in 2025, and 25 year-to-date in 2026. The top five recipients by award count hold 40 percent of recent grants, with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, and Iowa Department of Natural Resources dominating. By federal dollars obligated, the top five cover 32 percent—Wisconsin DNR leads at $186.8 million across 140 awards. The Region distributes grants across three primary assistance types: Cooperative Agreements at 36 percent of awards, Formula Grants at 33 percent, and Project Grants at 31 percent. Across all grants, 434 distinct recipients have received awards.

No recent contract opportunities or grant opportunities are present in the source data.