Minnesota Department Of Human Services

The Minnesota Department of Human Services, doing business as Health Special Risk, is a U.S. state government entity that acts as a federal grant recipient and, more recently, a prime contractor on specialized regulatory compliance services. It operates as a state agency headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota, with no involvement in subcontracting or sub-award relationships — all of its 973 tracked federal awards are prime awards (100% of activity).

Minnesota DHS's federal footprint is dominated by formula and block grants in social services, healthcare administration, and child welfare. The department receives recurring annual grant awards from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Agriculture, and HHS-aligned grantor agencies including the Administration for Children and Families, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Representative grant work includes $38.9 billion in Medicaid entitlement block grant funding (CFDA 93.778) for fiscal year 2026 medical assistance payments; $112.6 million in Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) block grant funding (CFDA 93.767) for child health insurance administration; $26.74 million in substance abuse prevention and treatment block grant funding (CFDA 93.959) from SAMHSA for comprehensive substance use disorder programming across the state; $24.79 million in community mental health services block grant funding (CFDA 93.958) for evidence-based outpatient counseling and crisis intervention; and $13.46 million in child care development fund mandatory and matching grants (CFDA 93.596) for child care subsidies and quality improvement. The department also administers refugee resettlement grants totaling approximately $5.1 million (CFDA 93.566) covering cash assistance, medical assistance, and employment support services for refugees, asylees, and trafficking victims. Additional portfolio activities include SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) administration grants from USDA's Food and Nutrition Service, Foster Care and Adoption Assistance block grants, and grant awards supporting adult protective services, family preservation, and children's justice initiatives.

The department's customer concentration reflects state entitlement and formula grant distributions rather than competitive procurement. The top five funding agencies by award count account for 67% of recent awards, led by the HHS Administration for Children and Families (211 awards), followed by USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (134 awards) and HHS Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (105 awards). However, when ranked by potential value, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) anchors the top position with $18.2 million in combined potential value across six awards, a dramatic reweighting driven by a single new federal contract vehicle for tobacco retail inspection services. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ranks second by potential value at $1 million across 105 awards, reflecting the lower individual grant award values typical of formula grants. The gap between award-count and potential-value rankings signals that Minnesota DHS operates primarily under recurring federal grant entitlements (which produce high award counts but modest individual values) while recently entering the federal prime contracting space through a specialized, higher-value vehicle.

Minnesota DHS holds two active indefinite delivery contracts. The primary vehicle is a five-year single-award Indefinite Delivery Contract (75F40125D00024) established by the FDA on September 29, 2025, with a ceiling value of $6.8 million and performance extending through September 29, 2030. This contract supports retail tobacco product inspection and compliance monitoring services throughout Minnesota, with task orders issued cost-reimbursement. One task order has been placed to date: Task Order 75F40125F19001, awarded September 30, 2025, valued at $1.335 million, with performance in Afton, Minnesota and completion by May 29, 2027. The work involves systematic compliance inspections of tobacco retailers and detailed reporting to the FDA. A second vehicle, Indefinite Delivery Contract V656P3788, carries $341 thousand in combined potential value across 11 task orders and appears to relate to historical grant or administrative services work. No set-asides were applied to either the FDA IDC or its task orders.

Activity has been stable but sparse on the federal contracting side. The source data reports 973 total awards spanning 1991 to April 2026, with peak volumes in 2022–2024 at approximately 43–45 awards per year, declining to 23 in 2025 and just 1 award recorded in 2026 (the tobacco inspection contract). The recompete cliff indicates 57 awards with ultimate completion dates in the next twenty-four months, carrying combined potential value of $1.3 million — most of these are recurring formula grant awards subject to annual re-obligation rather than competitive recompete. The discrepancy between combined potential value ($19.5 million) and combined dollars obligated ($468.9 billion) reflects the source data's treatment of annual Medicaid and CHIP entitlement awards, where quarterly disbursements and forward-funded benefit payments accumulate to billion-dollar magnitudes despite modest fiscal-year-specific ceilings.

Minnesota DHS demonstrates substantial capability in executing federal compliance and administrative services at scale. As the state's primary social services agency, it administers healthcare, child welfare, mental health, substance abuse treatment, refugee resettlement, nutrition assistance, and other human services programs for vulnerable populations. The FDA's selection of Minnesota DHS as the sole-source prime contractor for statewide tobacco retail inspection reflects the department's established infrastructure, regulatory experience, and demonstrated ability to execute specialized federal compliance activities across geographic scope. The recent entry into federal prime contracting — marked by the FDA tobacco inspection vehicle — represents a modest but strategically positioned foothold in regulatory inspection and administrative services delivery, distinct from the department's dominant grant-recipient role.