Association For Career And Technical Education, Inc.

Association For Career And Technical Education, Inc., a tax-exempt corporate non-profit organization based in Alexandria, Virginia, serves as a key partner to the federal government in advancing career and technical education (CTE) initiatives. The organization has maintained active federal vendor registration since April 2000 and provides a range of services and exhibition support that align with the federal government's workforce development and educational priorities. Through both prime contract and grant sub-award arrangements, ACTE leverages its national communications infrastructure and professional membership base to support federal objectives in career and technical education.

ACTE has demonstrated a consistent pattern of federal contracting activity with the U.S. Department of the Army, specifically through the Office of the Secretary. Between 2021 and 2025, the organization received five prime federal contract awards totaling $192,150, all structured as firm fixed-price purchase orders for booth space rental at ACTE's annual conferences and expos. The contract awards include a December 2025 award valued at $34,650 for two booth spaces (20x60 feet and 20x30 feet) for ACTE's annual conference; a December 2024 award of $49,200 for booth space rental at the CareerTech Vision 2024 convention in San Antonio, Texas; a June 2023 award of $42,000 for booth space at the 2023 Annual Conference and Expo in Phoenix, Arizona; a November 2022 award of $40,800 for convention booth rental; and a November 2021 award of $25,500 for convention booth rental. None of these contract awards involved set-aside designations. These recurring annual contracts reflect the Army's ongoing commitment to supporting ACTE's conference activities as a means to promote career and technical education initiatives and workforce development programs.

ACTE has also served as a federal grant sub-awardee on two significant initiatives focused on research, professional development, and dissemination within the CTE field. Under a sub-award from the Virginia Community College System Office dated August 1, 2023, ACTE collaborated with Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) and industry partners to develop conference sessions and industry site visits at ACTE events aimed at raising educator awareness of data center industry careers and recruiting faculty to participate in a Professional Learning fellowship. ACTE's role included coordinating fellowship administration and leveraging its national communication and professional membership infrastructure to support the initiative across three project years. Additionally, ACTE received a sub-award from the American Institutes for Research in the Behavioral Sciences dated December 8, 2022, in which ACTE served as a network lead team member and co-led a leadership and dissemination task. In this capacity, ACTE developed and coordinated multifaceted dissemination activities, including developing a network website to serve as a hub for CTE research and resources, organizing briefings and presentations for key stakeholders at national conferences, and facilitating connections among researchers, practitioners, and policymakers in the CTE field. Both grant sub-awards reflect ACTE's strategic value as an organization capable of connecting federal research and policy initiatives with the broader practitioner community through its established professional networks and communications platforms.