California Department Of Fish & Wildlife

California Department of Fish & Wildlife (CDFW), a U.S. state government agency headquartered in Sacramento, California, is a prime recipient of federal grants and a prime contractor on federal service agreements, delivering fish hatchery operations, fisheries management, habitat restoration, marine law enforcement, and aquatic resource stewardship across California's state-managed wildlife areas, ecological reserves, and fisheries programs. CDFW does not operate as a subcontractor and holds no SBA set-aside designations; it competes on a full-and-open basis as a state agency.

CDFW's federal work concentrates heavily on fisheries and wildlife management. Representative prime work includes a $8.5 million firm-fixed-price definitive contract (awarded June 2026, running through May 2029) with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, San Francisco District, to operate and maintain the Don Clausen Fish Hatchery and Coyote Valley Fish Facility in Geyserville, California, covering spawning, rearing, and imprinting programs for steelhead and coho salmon under sole-source justification. CDFW also received a $24.07 million Pacific Coast Salmon Recovery grant (September 2024, ending August 2029) from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to implement anadromous salmonid restoration projects across California's Central Valley and coastal watersheds. On the grant side, CDFW is a recipient on multiple formula grants from the Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Region 8 supporting wildlife restoration, sport fish management, hunter education, and habitat conservation across the state's six terrestrial regions, with individual awards ranging from $100 thousand to $4.4 million per fiscal year.

Customer concentration is extreme and reflects CDFW's statutory role as California's state fish and wildlife trustee. The Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Region 8 alone accounts for 954 awards (53% of all awards in the source), while the full Fish and Wildlife Service entity across all regions represents 646 additional awards. The Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation places 47 awards worth $43.4 million combined potential value—the largest dollar concentration by single customer. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (47 awards, $24 thousand combined potential), the Army Corps of Engineers San Francisco District (5 awards, $21.4 million), and the Army Corps of Engineers overall (5 awards, $15.1 million) round out the top customer base by dollar value. This portfolio reflects CDFW's position as the state agency executing federal wildlife restoration, habitat management, and fisheries stewardship mandates under programs funded by Pittman-Robertson and Sport Fish Restoration acts, which flow through Fish and Wildlife Service Region 8 to states as formula grants.

CDFW holds positions on two federal contract vehicles: the U.S. Coast Guard Indefinite Delivery Contract DTCG8902D6PM012 (9 task orders for ocean law enforcement launch support) and the indefinite delivery contract 50ABNF000022 (1 task order). The Coast Guard vehicle supports CDFW's marine law enforcement and resource protection work in California's coastal waters and ports.

Activity has remained stable at high volume—100 to 113 awards per year from 2022 to 2024—but dropped sharply in 2025 (98 awards) and into 2026 (3 awards to date), a trajectory consistent with the portfolio's heavy concentration on annual formula-grant renewals (which arrive on fixed fiscal-year cycles beginning July 1). Fifty-three awards reach ultimate completion inside the next twenty-four months, representing routine recompete exposure on the annual sport fish and wildlife restoration formula grants that anchor the portfolio.

Service Contract Inventory data captures a narrow slice of CDFW's federal work: $1.4 million in invoiced SCI-reportable revenue in FY2022 and $1.2 million in FY2023, supported by 12.3 and 10.9 FTEs respectively, with government-paid median hourly rates around $53.45/hr across technical and environmental specialist positions. CDFW reports no subcontractor hours on these SCI records; all work is delivered by state employee labor. This SCI footprint represents only service contracts above the $150,000 reporting threshold and excludes the vast majority of CDFW's federal revenue, which flows through grant awards and smaller transactional contracts below the SCI floor.

The vendor's award taxonomy reveals a wildlife and fisheries management profile: top NAICS codes include Administration of Conservation Programs, All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services, Environmental Consulting Services, and Natural Resources/Conservation—Fish Hatchery. PSC coding emphasizes special studies and analysis on animal and fisheries topics, support services, fish hatchery operations, and natural resources conservation work. CDFW operates entirely as a state agency delivering mandated conservation and fisheries programs under federal partnership agreements and grants, with no private-sector subcontracting pattern and no pursuit of federal contract competition outside its statutory wildlife stewardship role.