Louisiana Department Of Economic Development

Louisiana Department Of Economic Development, doing business as LED, is a state government agency that operates as a prime recipient of federal grants and a contractor on federal purchase orders, delivering technology transfer support, small business export promotion, and economic development technical assistance to federal agencies. LED is a child entity of the State of Louisiana and holds no SBA designations; it competes on full-and-open federal procurements without set-asides.

LED's federal footprint is dominated by grant work from the Small Business Administration and Department of the Treasury, with emerging contract work with NASA. The agency has served thirteen distinct federal customer agencies across 23 prime awards since 2011, with recent activity tracking at one award per year from 2025 forward. SBA's Office of International Trade anchors the historical grant portfolio (six awards) focused on the State Trade Expansion Program (STEP, CFDA 59.061), delivering export training, trade missions, trade show assistance, and technical export advisory services to Louisiana small businesses. Recent STEP grants include a $325 thousand two-year award effective September 30, 2024 through September 29, 2026, and a prior $450 thousand award running through September 29, 2025. The Department of the Treasury has awarded two grants under the State Small Business Credit Initiative technical assistance programs: a $5.38 million Project Grant (CFDA 21.034) on August 21, 2024 to provide legal, accounting, and financial advisory services to very small and underserved small businesses applying for SSBCI capital programs, and a prior grant under the SSBCI Technical Assistance Grant Program (CFDA 21.034) effective November 1, 2023.

NASA's Shared Services Center now represents LED's only active contract work, accounting for the two most recent awards in the portfolio. LED holds a $147,600 firm-fixed-price purchase order effective April 28, 2025 through April 27, 2026 for technology transfer and partnership initiatives at NASA Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, with administrative oversight in Baton Rouge. The contract is sole-sourced under FAR 13.106-1(b)(1)(i) citing unique capability and the Louisiana Technology Transfer Office's mandated presence at Stennis. A follow-on $77,670 purchase order awarded April 29, 2026 (completing May 9, 2026) continues Louisiana technology transfer support. Both awards require weekly activity reports and participation in NASA Technology Transfer staff meetings. The Department of Energy's Office of Fossil Energy awarded a cooperative agreement on April 1, 2023 for Project Diamond Vault Carbon Capture Front End Engineering Design Study, with ultimate completion February 28, 2025 (including a three-month no-cost extension). The Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration has issued two awards supporting LED's economic development mission. LED has obligated $38.3 million across all 23 awards — substantially exceeding the combined potential-value ceiling of $225 thousand, indicating carry-forward grant balances and multi-year performance periods across the portfolio.