County Of Pickens

County Of Pickens, a U.S. local government entity headquartered in Pickens, South Carolina, receives federal grant funding as a prime recipient across airport infrastructure, law enforcement equipment, emergency management, and social services programs; it also participates as a sub-recipient on federally funded disaster recovery and child-support enforcement work channeled through the South Carolina Adjutant General and Department of Social Services.

As a government entity, Pickens County does not compete for federal contracts and holds no IDIQs, GWACs, or schedules. Its federal footprint consists entirely of grant awards and sub-grant pass-throughs, with 77% of recent federal funding flowing as direct prime grants and 23% as sub-recipient allocations. The county is not subject to SBA set-aside designations.

Pickens County's grant portfolio concentrates heavily on airport infrastructure development at Pickens County Airport. The Department of Transportation Federal Aviation Administration Southern Region has awarded fifteen grants totaling roughly $2 million in combined value, spanning runway rehabilitation (5,000 feet of Runway 5/23), taxiway construction (1,500 feet of partial parallel Taxiway E across multiple phases funded under CFDA 20.106 and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act authority), hangar construction for aircraft storage and maintenance, and aeronautical survey work to establish area-navigation instrument approach procedures. Representative awards include a $144,210.53 reimbursement grant awarded May 26, 2026, for final hangar construction costs (CFDA 20.117), a $150,500 project grant from September 11, 2025, to conduct the RNAV survey (CFDA 20.106), and a $327,777.78 project grant from September 21, 2022, for phase-one taxiway construction (CFDA 20.106).

The Federal Emergency Management Agency Headquarters Financial Assistance Awards represents the second-largest customer by award count (eleven grants), driven by a Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) project grant from November 29, 2021, as well as recent disaster-recovery sub-grants passed through the South Carolina Adjutant General for hazard mitigation planning, emergency protective measures, and road and culvert damage repairs following extreme weather events in 2026. The Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Assistance has awarded nine block grants (CFDA not specified in source) to the Pickens County Sheriff's Office for acquisition of patrol rifles and replacement of outdated weapons, with awards made in October 2022 and October 2023. The county also receives sub-grant allocations from the South Carolina Department of Social Services for Title IV-D child-support enforcement services, with sub-awards in June 2026 totaling $295,251.32 (split between clerk-of-court unit costs and service of process), July 2025 totaling $181,500, and April 2024 for unspecified amounts.

The county has been a federal grant recipient since at least March 1982. Activity has accelerated recently — ten awards in the first ten months of 2026 compared to three to four awards annually in 2022–2025 — reflecting increased disaster recovery and FEMA funding. Only one award faces ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, presenting minimal recompete exposure in that window. The Appalachian Regional Commission awarded a project grant on July 1, 2025, for business site development (ultimate completion June 30, 2028), representing the sole non-FAA, non-FEMA, non-DOJ customer in the recent portfolio.