Denver Botanic Gardens Inc.

Denver Botanic Gardens Inc., a tax-exempt non-profit organization headquartered in Denver, Colorado, operates as a federal prime recipient in native seed production, botanical conservation research, and natural history collections management, competing without set-asides across Interior Department and cultural-science agencies. The organization holds SAM.gov registration dating to 2004 and has grown its federal footprint from episodic awards to consistent engagement across multiple Interior and IMLS programs since 2023.

The capability portfolio centers on native seed collection, propagation, and production for public-lands restoration; seed conservation banking and alpine ecosystem protection; and open-source digital infrastructure for natural history collections. Representative work includes a $107,080 definitive contract awarded September 2026 by the Interior Department's Idaho Region for native seed production supporting Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, and Fish and Wildlife Service habitat restoration across the western United States, running through September 2031 under Executive Order 14398. Denver Botanic Gardens is receiving government-furnished seed collected from multiple regions, growing it out, and increasing quantity for use on public lands. A prior $383,906 delivery order from Interior's National Office (September 2023, completed December 2024) covered Wyoming seed collection and propagation. On the research and infrastructure side, the Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded $640,467 in September 2026 under the National Leadership Grants program (CFDA 45.312) for developing open-source data management tools linking natural history specimen records with genomic data, ecological observations, and environmental datasets, with a case study examining biodiversity responses to wildfire regimes in semi-arid western ecosystems, running through August 2029. IMLS also awarded $520,561 in September 2024 under the Museums for America program (CFDA 45.301) for alpine plant conservation, seed collection banking, and X-ray assessment of seed quality over three years through August 2027.

Customer concentration is heavily weighted to Interior Department programs. The Bureau of Land Management National Office accounts for six awards and $5.8 million in combined potential value, while the BLM Colorado Region contributes four awards. The Institute of Museum and Library Services holds four awards across multiple grant programs. Together, these two agencies account for 68% of recent awards by count and 99% of combined potential value. Five task orders worth $846 thousand flow under an Interior Department indefinite-delivery contract vehicle (140L0618D0060). Beyond Interior and IMLS, the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, National Endowment for the Arts, and National Science Foundation round out the customer roster, with recent NSF collaborative research funding examining macrofungi distributions across eight states.

Activity has been episodic but steady — two awards in 2022, three in 2023, one in 2024, one in 2025, and two in 2026 — with only two awards (representing minimal combined value) facing ultimate completion in the next twenty-four months. Denver Botanic Gardens operates as a pure-prime organization with no sub-award footprint, positioning it as a direct federal recipient without contractor teaming relationships. Primary NAICS coding reflects Environmental Consulting Services (six awards) and All Other Miscellaneous Crop Farming (the native seed production contract). The organization's federal identity is grounded in specialized botanical science, conservation expertise, and research-grade collections infrastructure rather than in IT, professional services, or traditional federal contracting verticals.