Unified School District NO. 417

Unified School District NO. 417, a rural Kansas school district based in Council Grove, operates as a prime recipient of federal education and nutrition grants and as a sub-recipient of block grants and categorical education funding, with 29% of recent awards as direct prime grants and 71% as sub-awards flowing from state intermediaries.

USD 417 is a U.S. government entity—a public school district—with no federal contracting footprint; all federal activity routes through grant programs administered by the Department of Education's Office of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service. As a prime recipient, USD 417 holds direct awards under the Small, Rural School Achievement Program (SRSAP), a formula grant for eligible rural districts, with five documented annual awards from July 2022 through July 2026, with the most recent award (July 1, 2026) carrying an ultimate completion date of September 30, 2027. The bulk of the district's federal footprint, however, consists of sub-awards flowing through the Kansas State Department of Education as pass-through intermediary, representing 51 of the 72 total documented awards in the source. Sub-awards include block grants, Title I Low Income supplements, Title II-A teacher quality funding, and a categorical sub-award from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment for diesel-emission reduction on school buses (service period February 6, 2024 to September 30, 2025, with reimbursement up to 25% of the purchase cost).

Customer concentration is extreme and reflects the statutory structure of federal K–12 funding. The Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service accounts for 42 awards (58% of all awards), while the Department of Education Office of Elementary and Secondary Education accounts for 27 awards (38% of all awards), with three additional federal agencies appearing in single sub-awards each. Combined dollars obligated across all awards (prime and sub) total $4.2 million, a figure consistent with a small rural district operating under formula allocations and categorical set-asides rather than competitive procurement.

Activity has accelerated significantly in recent years. The district received 3 awards per year in 2022 and 2023, climbed to 14 in 2024, and reached 16 in 2025, with 18 awards recorded in 2026 year-to-date as of late September. Only one award carries an ultimate completion date within the next twenty-four months, indicating minimal recompete exposure in the near term; the district's federal funding flows on an annual or multi-year renewal cycle tied to statutory formula allocation rather than competitive solicitation.