Arizona Department Of Economic Security

Arizona Department of Economic Security, doing business as Legal Services, is a state government agency that operates as the prime recipient of federal grant funding across social services, workforce development, and aging support programs, with a portfolio of 1,180 federal awards worth a combined obligated value of $33.17 billion. The agency does not hold contracts with the federal government and does not compete in the federal procurement marketplace; rather, it receives entitlement-based formula grants and block grants from multiple federal agencies.

ADES Legal Services' grant work centers on statutory formula allocations across five principal customer agencies. The Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families leads award volume with 212 recent grants, followed by the Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration (183 awards), the Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service (120 awards), and the Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Community Living (107 and 95 awards across its offices). Together, these five agencies account for 61% of the recipient's recent award count. The portfolio spans workforce development, income support, nutrition assistance, aging services, child care support, and related social safety-net programs.

Representative grant work demonstrates the breadth of the agency's federal receiving role. ADES received $804.61 million in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF, CFDA 93.558) block grant funding in October 2025 to support assistance to needy families with children, reduce out-of-wedlock pregnancies, and promote work; the agency distributes TANF funds to county governments and community-based organizations across Arizona. Under the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG, CFDA 93.575), ADES received $532.616 million in October 2025 to administer child care subsidies and quality improvements statewide. The Department of Labor awarded ADES $21.745 million in October 2025 under the Unemployment Insurance program (CFDA 17.225) to administer Arizona's unemployment insurance program operations, including claim processing and fraud identification. The Department of Education's Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services awarded $94.455 million to ADES in October 2025 under the Rehabilitation Services Vocational Rehabilitation Grants to States program (CFDA 84.126) to support comprehensive vocational rehabilitation and supported employment services for individuals with disabilities. Additional significant recent awards include $63.915 million for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP, CFDA 93.568) in October 2025 and $29.112 million for the Older Americans Act Title III Nutrition Services program (CFDA 93.045) in October 2025, both formula grants the agency passes through to regional and tribal entities.

The agency's award volume has remained relatively flat in recent years—71 awards in 2022, 69 in 2023, 70 in 2024, declining to 59 in 2025, with only 7 recorded in the partial year 2026 at the time of snapshot. Sixty awards face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months and therefore represent recompete exposure or renewal cycles. ADES routinely sub-awards portions of federal grant funds to regional Area Agencies on Aging, county governments, Indian Tribal Organizations, community action agencies, community-based organizations, food banks, and workforce development areas across Arizona's 15 counties and 22 federally recognized tribes. Notable recurring sub-recipients include the Navajo Nation Tribal Government, Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona, multiple regional councils of governments, and county-level administering entities. The agency does not sub-award under federal contracts and holds no federal contract prime awards in the source data, functioning exclusively as a grant recipient and pass-through entity for entitlement-based federal social services and workforce funding.