Desert Sands Unified School District

Desert Sands Unified School District, a U.S. local government entity and school district headquartered in La Quinta, California, receives federal grant funding as a prime recipient and sub-recipient in education and child nutrition programs administered by the Department of Education and the Department of Agriculture. The district does not hold prime federal contracts and does not compete under set-aside categories; its federal footprint consists entirely of formula grants and pass-through sub-awards from state education agencies and regional offices.

The district's customer concentration is heavily tilted toward education and nutrition programs. The Office of Elementary and Secondary Education accounts for 38 awards (representing 49% of the top-five agency concentration at 85% of total awards), centered on Indian Education Formula Grants to LEAs awarded annually from July 2022 through July 2026, with the most recent award issued July 1, 2026 and completing June 30, 2027. The Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service accounts for 20 awards, predominantly sub-awards routed through the California Department of Education for school breakfast and lunch programs under the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program. The Department of Education Office of Career Technical and Adult Education and the Office of English Language Acquisition each hold 3 awards. A minor customer, the Department of the Interior National Park Service Pacific West Region, holds 2 awards with combined potential value of $6 thousand. Prime awards account for 33% of recent activity (26 awards), with 67% flowing as sub-awards (52 awards) from state departments of education and social services and regional county offices.

Award activity has accelerated significantly. The district received 1 award in 2022, 3 in 2023, 17 in 2024, 11 in 2025, and 24 in the first nine months of 2026. Total awards across the source period number 78, though combined potential value reports as $16 thousand against combined dollars obligated of $82.6 million — a reporting artifact indicating that most awards flow through formula-grant mechanisms with obligated dollars far exceeding published potential-value ceilings. Sub-award work includes child nutrition programs (breakfast and lunch service, Child Care and Development Block Grant support), English-language acquisition and limited English proficient services, career and technical education, teacher quality and special education services, homeless youth coordination, Head Start services (routed through Riverside County Office of Education), and pandemic-response assistance. Only 1 award completes within the next twenty-four months, limiting near-term recompete exposure.