American Bar Association

American Bar Association, doing business as American Bar Association Fund For Justice And Education, is a non-profit recipient of federal contracts and grants that delivers disaster legal services, legal capacity building, human rights advocacy, and technical assistance in rule of law and judicial reform to domestic and international customer agencies. The organization operates as a prime recipient on the vast majority of recent awards (89% of total) and holds no seat on government-wide contract vehicles or agency IDIQs; its federal footprint is dominated by FEMA disaster legal services purchase orders and State Department rule-of-law and human rights grants.

The ABA operates as a subsidiary of its parent organization, the American Bar Association, headquartered in Chicago. The ABA Fund For Justice And Education maintains offices in Washington, DC. Work is performed worldwide (including domestic disaster response in the U.S., CONUS and OCONUS locations for international grant work, and hostile areas including Eastern DRC, Ukraine, and regions in Africa and the Middle East) with administrative oversight in Washington, DC.

Customer concentration is extreme and skewed heavily toward disaster and international rule-of-law grant work. The top five customer agencies account for 43% of recent awards by count but a smaller share by dollar value, reflecting the high volume of low-dollar FEMA disaster legal services purchase orders. The Federal Emergency Management Agency leads by award count (50 awards, $292 thousand combined potential value) and is followed by the Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics Law Enforcement (103 awards, $15 thousand combined potential value). However, the top-five ranking by potential value differs: FEMA remains first, but the Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation Headquarters Division and Department of Justice Offices Boards and Divisions National Security Division anchor significant value in conference and training support ($144 thousand and $95 thousand respectively). FEMA Region 4, Region 6, and Region 8 also carry material awards. This split reflects the ABA's dual business model: high-volume, low-value FEMA disaster response contracts and lower-volume, higher-value international rule-of-law grants.

The ABA's capability portfolio centers on four concrete service lines. First, disaster legal services for FEMA: the organization mobilizes volunteer attorneys through its Young Lawyers Division to provide pro bono legal assistance to individuals and households affected by FEMA-declared disasters under Memoranda of Agreement and purchase orders; recent representative work includes the $175 thousand Memorandum of Agreement for travel and lodging (April 2024), multiple $5 thousand to $10 thousand purchase orders for specific disaster declarations (DR-4857-NC for Hurricane Helene, DR-4843-NM, DR-4827-NC, DR-4819-IL, DR-4807-SD, and others), and a hybrid Time & Materials and Cost-Type purchase order for $50.7 thousand (March 2022). Second, training and conference delivery for the Department of Justice: the ABA delivers the ABA National Security Law Conference ($18.7 thousand, November 2024), the 33rd Annual ABA Conference ($18.7 thousand, November 2023), and the ABA Conference registration ($14.7 thousand, September 2023), as well as ABA training supporting the Child Welfare Improvement Project (CIP 2nd Annual Neglect Symposium, $10.5 thousand, September 2026). Third, international rule-of-law and human rights technical assistance: the organization holds 25 awards from the State Department Bureau of Democracy Human Rights and Labor for programs spanning religious freedom advocacy in Indonesia, Sudan, and Bahrain; environmental rights and human rights protection in Uganda, Colombia, and Peru; data privacy and protection policy in Malaysia; and human rights for all in Guatemala. Recent representative grants include $1.2 million for data privacy in Malaysia (September 2022), $1 million for rule-of-law support in Iran under the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (October 2022), $987.7 thousand for religious freedom in Sudan (October 2022), $740.7 thousand for religious freedom in Indonesia (September 2022), and a $2.5 million Cooperative Agreement from the Department of State Office of the Secretary for countering coercive legal instruments by the People's Republic of China (September 2022). Fourth, child welfare legal services and policy: the organization holds cooperative agreements with the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Planning Research and Evaluation for the National Legal and Judicial Child Welfare Center for Innovation and Advancement ($YYYY, September 2024) and sub-awards to deliver technical assistance on child welfare legal representation standards, judicial training, and pre-petition legal advocacy to the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges and Zero to Three National Center for Infants, Toddlers & Families.

Recent activity spans contract and grant modalities. Prime contract awards are predominantly FEMA purchase orders, many in closeout or deobligation phases. Grant awards from the State Department and Department of Justice reflect a sustained international and domestic policy engagement footprint. The organization received 46 awards in calendar 2024, 29 in 2023, and 30 in 2022; activity slowed to 11 awards in 2025 and 3 in 2026 (through mid-September). Only two awards face ultimate completion in the next twenty-four months (combined potential value $11 thousand), indicating limited recompete exposure in the near term.

The ABA subcontracts to federal primes on immigration legal services and rule-of-law capacity building. Across Service Contract Inventory data, the organization reported 269 FTEs in FY2024 and 137 FTEs in FY2025, all in a subcontractor role (16 total SCI records across FY2022–FY2025). Named prime contractors include Acacia Center For Justice (the dominant prime for unaccompanied alien children legal services under the Department of Health and Human Services Administration of Children and Families Office of Refugee Resettlement, with recent sub-awards for legal representation and orientation services spanning FY22–FY25 under programs including NQRP, LOPC, LOP, FGLOP, CCI, and ICH) and Tetra TECH DRG JV, Inc. (for the Promoting Rule of Law Activity, where the ABA developed case management systems and provided people-centered justice advisory work, March 2024). The ABA also sub-awards to Freedom House, Inc. and other organizations on human rights and rule-of-law initiatives where the ABA holds the prime grant.

The ABA's primary contract vehicle footprint rests on two IDIQs: Indefinite Delivery Contract 15JPSS22D00000013 (12 task orders) and Indefinite Delivery Contract 105008306 ($1 million combined potential value, 10 task orders). The organization does not sit on GWACs, GSA Schedules, or BPAs visible in the source.

The ABA competes exclusively in full-and-open procurement with no set-aside designations or certifications. All 534 awards in the source record carry "No Set-Aside Used" designations.