Maine Department Of Health And Human Services

Maine Department Of Health And Human Services, a U.S. state government entity and child agency of the State of Maine, operates as a prime federal grant recipient administering health, human services, nutrition, child welfare, substance abuse treatment, mental health, aging services, and vital statistics programs across Maine through formula grants, block grants, and project grants. The agency does not hold federal prime contracts; its federal footprint consists almost entirely of grant awards from HHS, USDA, EPA, HUD, and related agencies, with 2,074 prime awards and 51 sub-awards across recent years.

Maine DHHS receives the largest concentration of dollars through mandatory Medicaid and CHIP entitlements—a $780.5 million Medicaid block grant (CFDA 93.778) and a $65.3 million CHIP block grant (CFDA 93.767)—both awarded by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in October 2025 through September 2026. The agency also holds significant block grant authority in child welfare, substance abuse prevention and treatment, community mental health services, child care and development, social services, temporary assistance for needy families, and child support enforcement. Recent project grants include a $760.032 million Rural Health Transformation Program cooperative agreement from CMS (awarded December 2025, extending through October 2030) to implement a resilient rural healthcare system across Maine through school-based health centers, telehealth, and crisis services partnerships; a $16.976 billion Transforming Maternal Health Model cooperative agreement from CMS (awarded January 2025, extending through December 2034) to strengthen perinatal care, workforce capacity, and value-based payment models; and a $4.944 million Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children cooperative agreement from SAMHSA (awarded September 2026, extending through September 2030) establishing single points of access at two rural certified community behavioral health clinics in Kennebec and Penobscot Counties serving approximately 5,080 individuals and 2,780 receiving care coordination.

On the contracts side, Maine DHHS holds a single-award indefinite delivery contract with CDC Pittsburgh for vital statistics data collection and reporting under the National Center for Health Statistics Vital Statistics Program (ceiling $2.9 million, running through April 2027). Recent delivery orders include a $179,232 order for NCHS Vital Statistics Program services (awarded April 2026, completion May 2027) and a $10,489 purchase order for 2026 NDI data collection (awarded July 2026, completion May 2027). The agency also received a $441,600 purchase order from Social Security Administration for enumeration at birth and race and ethnicity records services (awarded June 2024, exercised through June 2029).

Maine DHHS administers federal funds through extensive sub-award networks. The agency distributed a $20.758 million substance abuse prevention, treatment, and recovery services block grant (CFDA 93.959, awarded October 2025) to 35 sub-recipients including Milestone Recovery, Catholic Charities Maine, Mainehealth, Crossroads For Women, and Kennebec Behavioral Health delivering medically-monitored withdrawal, outpatient treatment, intensive outpatient programming, residential rehabilitation, overdose prevention, and crisis intervention. A $9.81 million community mental health services block grant (CFDA 93.958, awarded October 2025) flowed to Mainehealth, Aroostook Mental Health Center, Sweetser, Kennebec Behavioral Health, and peer recovery centers operated by Commonspace and others. A $194.657 million Temporary Assistance for Needy Families block grant (CFDA 93.558, awarded October 2025) distributed to 29 sub-recipients delivered whole family services for poverty reduction, early head start and head start services, asset building, youth services, family visitation, home visiting using evidence-based Parents as Teachers, intervention and prevention programming addressing domestic violence and sex trafficking, employment and training, and youth homelessness continuum of care. A $14.638 million Title IV-E Prevention Program block grant (CFDA 93.472, awarded October 2025) supported intensive family preservation and reunification services through Bethany Christian Services and Maine Children's Trust Inc. using the Homebuilders evidence-based model.

Award activity has been steady—138 awards in 2024, 87 in 2025, with 13 recorded so far in 2026. The top five customer agencies by award count are the Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families (214 and 182 awards in two separate count lines, likely reflecting different program lines), the Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service (181 awards), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (171 awards), and the Department of Housing and Urban Development Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development (147 awards), accounting for 42 percent of awards. By potential value, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Pittsburgh leads with 35 awards valued at $8.6 million combined, followed by the Social Security Administration with 26 awards valued at $2.8 million combined. The combined obligated dollars across all awards ($140.99 billion) substantially exceed combined potential value ($15.4 million) because the Medicaid and CHIP block grants carry multi-billion-dollar entitlement obligations against relatively small ceiling values—a feature of formula grant accounting where the federal government obligates funds against ceilings that do not reflect the true award magnitude. Ninety-three awards face recompete or ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, carrying combined potential value of approximately $430 thousand.

Maine DHHS operates as the state's designated administering agency for Medicaid, CHIP, TANF, SNAP, WIC, child welfare, substance abuse prevention and treatment, mental health services, child care development, aging services, and vital statistics. The agency's federal grant portfolio is dominated by formula grants and entitlements flowing directly to Maine as the state agent; it does not compete for prime federal contracts but receives mandatory federal health and human services allocations as a state government entity.