County Of Cook

County of Cook, a Minnesota county government entity, operates as a federal grant recipient and occasional service contractor to civilian federal agencies, delivering airport infrastructure improvements, wildlife and fisheries management, crime-victim services, and facility lease support across northern Minnesota. The county competes in full-and-open federal grant and purchase-order competitions without set-aside designations, with 67% of recent awards as a direct grant recipient or prime awardee and 33% as a sub-recipient under state pass-through grantees.

County of Cook's customer base concentrates within civilian agencies. The Federal Aviation Administration's Great Lakes Region leads both volume and dollars across airport improvement programs, accounting for twelve awards anchored to Grand Marais airport infrastructure development. The Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs Victims of Crime program represents seven awards for direct victim services delivery. The Department of Agriculture's Forest Service contributes six awards for resource management and land stewardship. The Department of the Interior's National Park Service Midwest Region and Fish and Wildlife Service Region 3 round out the top five customer agencies, contributing one cooperative agreement for aquatic nuisance species control and bridge replacement at Junco Creek, awarded in November 2021 for $148,961.26 with performance running through September 2025.

County of Cook's prime grant work centers on airport infrastructure planning and pandemic economic relief. The FAA awarded a $172,549.47 project grant under the Airport Improvement Program (CFDA 20.106) on September 17, 2025, funding Phase 1 design services for taxilane reconstruction and rehabilitation at Grand Marais airport, with completion targeted for September 16, 2029. An earlier FAA grant dated August 1, 2022, provided $318,044 in fiscal year 2022 funding and $148,819 in fiscal year 2023 funding for Grand Marais airport master plan updates, completing July 31, 2026. The FAA also awarded pandemic relief funding through the American Rescue Plan Act on January 25, 2022, for $24,000 in operational and facility support costs at Grand Marais airport, ultimately expiring January 24, 2026. Two recent purchase orders round out the prime contract footprint: a $24,000 Interior Department lease support services order for Grand Portage, Minnesota (June 8, 2026) and a $14,000 Interior Department land rental order near Duluth, Minnesota (July 20, 2026).

As a sub-recipient, County of Cook receives pass-through federal funding from Minnesota Department of Transportation for the Gunflint Trail and Bridge Replacement Project, from Minnesota Department of Public Safety for direct crime-victim services and disaster recovery (DR4531), from the Regents of the University of Minnesota for the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program, and Operation Stonegarden border-security grants. Activity has remained modest and episodic — two to four awards per year across 2022–2026 — with two awards (combined potential value $38,000) completing or due to complete in the next twenty-four months. The county maintains a subsidiary, the Cook County Soil and Water Conservation District, a local government-owned entity that may participate in natural resource management or agricultural conservation grant programs.