Colorado State University

Colorado State University (President's Office) acts as a prime recipient of federal formula grants administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), delivering cooperative extension education and applied research across Colorado's 63 counties. The university is a public, 1862 land-grant institution headquartered in Fort Collins, Colorado, and operates as a child entity within the Colorado State University System.

CSU Extension's federal footprint centers on five recurring USDA formula-grant programs spanning agriculture, nutrition, disaster preparedness, and natural resources. The most substantial recent awards include a $7.01 million Smith-Lever Extension Funding (CFDA 10.511) formula grant running October 2025 through September 2030, supporting extension specialists' delivery of research-based instruction in agriculture, home economics, public policy, 4-H youth development, and economic development; a $682,736 Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP, CFDA 10.514) award covering the same period, targeting nutrition education for low-income families and youth at or below 185 percent of federal poverty guidelines; and a $136,268 Smith-Lever formula award (2025–2030) dedicated to disaster preparedness and recovery outreach responding to Colorado's recent floods and wildfires. Earlier awards running through 2027 and 2028 cover renewable resources education and additional nutrition programming under the same program vehicles. All grants fund in-person and remote seminar delivery, print and electronic media dissemination, and on-demand specialist access through local extension offices.

Customer concentration sits entirely within USDA-NIFA, which accounts for 93 of 97 recent awards. The top five named customer agencies (four of which are NIFA institutes) represent 98 percent of award count. Combined potential value across all awards totals $140 thousand, with combined dollars obligated reaching $120.3 million (approximately 86 percent of potential value), indicating that these are mature, largely invoiced programs. Prime awards comprise 98 percent of the footprint; sub-award exposure is minimal, limited to two wildlife research sub-grants from Alaska Department of Fish and Game (Bird Genoscape Project and Foraging Dynamics of Brant and Emperor Geese). Activity over the past five years has remained steady at four to six awards per year, with three awards completing in the next twenty-four months (no significant recompete cliff). CSU Extension operates within the parent Colorado State University System and does not hold federal contracts or contract vehicles; the footprint is exclusively federal grant work.