Office of General Counsel

The Environmental Protection Agency Office of General Counsel—Funding Office is a civilian sub-agency within EPA that manages legal and compliance contracting to support the agency's regulatory and enforcement operations. The office procures legal services, training, compliance support, and specialized professional services through a modest, steady contracting program.

The Office of General Counsel has awarded 417 federal contracts since 2004, with combined potential value of $132 million and combined dollars obligated of $91.7 million (69% of potential). Recent activity has slowed: the office issued 3 awards in 2022, 3 in 2023, 5 in 2024, 2 in 2025, and 1 year-to-date in 2026, with the most recently recorded award date in July 2026. Among 107 distinct prime contractors in the portfolio, recent competitive concentration is moderately concentrated by award count but highly fragmented by potential value. Over the last five years, The Training Connection Inc. leads by award count with 3 awards totaling $1.2 million, followed by Relx Inc. with 2 awards worth $2 million; the top five by count account for 53% of recent awards. By potential value, however, Ains, LLC dominates with one $8.5 million award, but the top five by value cover only 9% of combined potential—a distribution reflecting a diverse vendor base and heavy use of smaller task orders or below-threshold purchases.

The contracting portfolio is overwhelmingly non-set-aside: 388 awards (93%) carry no set-aside designation. Small-business set-asides account for 6% of awards (23 total), with an additional 4 awards designated as 8(a) Sole Source (1%) and 1 as Competitive 8(a) (less than 1%). This mix signals that the Office of General Counsel prioritizes open competition and uses set-asides sparingly.

No recent contract opportunities or grant activities are recorded against the office in the source. The Office of General Counsel does not fund grants; its activity is confined to contracts for legal support and compliance services. The modest award cadence and small average contract size suggest this is a specialized, low-volume procurement environment suited to firms with legal, regulatory, training, or compliance expertise aligned with EPA's enforcement mission.