Black Hills Works Inc.

Black Hills Works Inc., doing business as Black Hills Workshop, is an AbilityOne non-profit organization headquartered in Rapid City, South Dakota, that operates as a prime contractor (97% of recent awards) supplying military cold-weather apparel, facility maintenance services, and equipment procurement to Department of Defense installations and civilian federal agencies. The organization competes without set-aside designation across full-and-open federal contract vehicles, leveraging its non-profit status and mission to employ individuals with disabilities rather than statutory small-business protections.

Black Hills Workshop's recent portfolio is heavily weighted toward apparel procurement and facility services. The vendor's capability footprint centers on cold-weather gear and military deployment equipment (MASSIF jackets, parkas, cold-weather pants, and modular combat clothing) supplied to Air Force squadrons and maintenance units; custodial and janitorial services at federal buildings and military installations; and government vehicle marshalling and facility support operations. Representative work includes a $6.9 million definitive contract with Air Combat Command for custodial services at Ellsworth Air Force Base (October 2024–September 2025 option year, running through September 2027), an $11.2 million Defense Commissary Agency contract for shelf stocking, receiving, storage, custodial, and Click2Go operations at Offutt Air Force Base Commissary (October 2021–September 2026), and a $400 thousand single-award Blanket Purchase Agreement with Air Combat Command for laundry and rug services at Ellsworth AFB (effective October 2025 through October 2030). Cold-weather apparel purchase orders for Air Force Global Strike Command and Air Combat Command at Ellsworth AFB account for roughly 34 individual line items ranging from $15 thousand to $337 thousand per order.

Customer concentration is substantial and Air-Force-centric. The top five agencies account for 68% of recent awards by count. The Department of the Air Force Global Strike Command leads by volume (23 awards, $2.4 million combined potential value), followed by Air Combat Command (11 awards, $7.9 million) and the broader Department of the Air Force category (33 awards, $173 thousand). However, the Defense Commissary Agency anchors the dollar concentration, representing $11.2 million (47% of combined potential value) across eight awards, almost entirely the single Offutt AFB definitive contract. GSA Federal Acquisition Service and GSA Public Buildings Service Region 8 supply a smaller but recurring customer base for vehicle marshalling and facility custodial services.

Black Hills Workshop holds three active Indefinite Delivery Contracts. The most recent, awarded April 1, 2026, carries a $459 thousand ceiling for marshalling and support services for government vehicles in the Black Hills region of South Dakota, running through March 31, 2027, with one $96 thousand delivery order issued. An earlier GSA Federal Acquisition Service IDC ($250 thousand ceiling through December 31, 2025) generated two delivery orders valued at $120 thousand combined for marshalling services and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration support. A GSA Public Buildings Service Region 8 IDC ($897 thousand ceiling through December 31, 2025) supplies custodial and related services at the Federal Building and Courthouse in Rapid City. Black Hills Workshop also operates under Air Combat Command basic ordering agreements and sits on Air Force definitive service contracts for custodial and laundry operations at Ellsworth AFB.

Activity has plateaued. The vendor recorded 15 awards in each of 2023 and 2024, declining to 15 in 2025 (including grant sub-awards) and 3 in 2026 (year-to-date through April). Over the next twenty-four months, three awards with combined potential value of $18.1 million face ultimate completion and therefore recompete exposure: the Defense Commissary Agency Offutt contract (September 2026 ceiling, though early source detail indicates a September 2026 completion date), the GSA custodial IDC at Rapid City (December 2025), and the original GSA vehicle marshalling IDC (December 2025). The two GSA vehicles are lower-dollar but foundational to Black Hills Workshop's civilian agency footprint.

Black Hills Workshop operates as a prime on 116 of 120 recent awards (97%), with four grant sub-awards routed through state or local entities (Section 5310 transit, duplex development, and equipment funding). The Service Contract Inventory dataset captures only one record, a sub-contractor position in FY2024 representing 4.0 FTEs, indicating minimal SCI-reportable service-contract revenue in that fiscal year and likely reflects the vendor's heavy reliance on goods procurement (apparel, equipment) and facility-maintenance definitive contracts that sit below or outside SCI reporting thresholds. The vendor's federal contracting activity is narrowly concentrated on two locations — Ellsworth Air Force Base and Offutt Air Force Base — and the Rapid City region, with no evident geographic diversification or multi-region expansion in recent awards.

Federal grant activity is limited to two National Endowment for the Arts project grants as prime recipient: a $1 (amount not specified) 2024 grant supporting "Fashionable: All-Ability Threads," a multidisciplinary fashion production featuring designs created and modeled by adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and a 2023 grant supporting architectural design services for expansion of the Suzie Cappa Art Center. Grant sub-awards indicate indirect federal funding flowing through state and regional intermediaries for transportation, housing, and equipment initiatives serving the disability community.