County Of LOS Angeles

The County of Los Angeles Department of Public Works, a child entity of the County of Los Angeles, receives federal grants for water infrastructure, airport terminal and runway improvements, transportation safety, climate resilience, and watershed protection across Los Angeles County. The department operates as a grant recipient rather than a contract prime, with 80% of its federal awards structured as prime grants and 20% as sub-grants, competing in full-and-open procurements without small business set-asides.

Customer concentration sits heavily with the Department of Transportation. The top five funding agencies by award count account for 83% of recent awards, with the FAA's Western Pacific Region anchoring 31 grants, the broader FAA carrying 20 grants, and the Federal Highway Administration funding 18 grants. Environmental Protection Agency Region 9 and the Federal Transit Administration round out the active customer set with four grants each. The concentration by dollar value tracks closely: the Forest Service R5–Pacific Southwest Region carries three awards totaling $42 thousand in combined potential value; however, the source reports $161 million in combined dollars obligated across all awards, reflecting the grant-delivery posture typical of county-level water, transportation, and airport infrastructure recipients.

Representative recent work spans multiple infrastructure domains. The Department of Agriculture's National Resources Conservation Service awarded a $4.876 million cooperative agreement on September 23, 2025, for emergency watershed protection measures across two damage survey areas in Los Angeles County under the Emergency Watershed Protection Program (CFDA 10.923), with performance ending August 20, 2026. The FAA awarded $6 million on December 23, 2025, under the Reclamation States Emergency Drought Relief program (CFDA 15.514) to modernize the Dominguez Gap Barrier Project, constructing four new injection wells and two monitoring wells to block seawater intrusion into the West Coast Basin aquifers serving over four million residents, with work performed in Alhambra and completion targeted for September 30, 2028. The Forest Service provided an $8 million project grant on May 1, 2024, under the Inflation Reduction Act Urban & Community Forestry Program (CFDA 10.727) to implement an Early Action Urban Forest Management Plan, with completion by March 31, 2029. The Federal Highway Administration awarded $3.373 million on December 13, 2024, under the Safe Streets and Roads for All program (CFDA 20.939) for a 5-year roadway safety initiative across urban and rural Los Angeles County, with sub-recipients including the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, Catholic University of America, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

In its sub-recipient capacity, the County works beneath the California Department of Transportation on roadway safety and intersection improvements. Named sub-awards include Mulholland Highway crossing projects, Sand Canyon Road and Little Tujunga Canyon Road improvements, Soledad Canyon Road rehabilitation, and Avalon Boulevard intersection safety work. Activity has grown significantly — from four grants in 2022 to twenty-two in 2024 — though the pace moderated to eight awards in 2025 and one award through August 2026. Only two awards reach ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, indicating limited near-term recompete exposure.

The department operates as a U.S. local government entity under primary responsibility for water infrastructure, transportation, airport facility improvements, and environmental resilience across unincorporated Los Angeles County and its regional airport system (Lancaster, El Monte, Compton, La Verne, and Crystal City facilities).