Mount Marty University

Mount Marty University, a private Catholic liberal arts institution based in Yankton, South Dakota, operates as a federal grant recipient and prime contractor delivering Advanced Occupational Education (AOE) services to the Bureau of Prisons and STEM workforce-development training to civilian agencies, with 97% of recent awards structured as prime contracts or grants rather than subcontracted work.

The university's federal footprint centers on a single-award indefinite-delivery contract with the Federal Bureau of Prisons (established October 1, 2023, ceiling value $539,925 through September 30, 2028) under which it delivers vocational and academic training in accounting, business administration, horticulture, and workforce preparation to inmates at Federal Prison Camp Yankton. The Bureau of Prisons accounts for 72% of recent awards (76 awards with $3.5 million combined potential value) across multiple delivery orders issued under Bureau of Prisons IDIQs; Mount Marty has executed approximately 1,150 instructional sessions annually since 2021, with recent delivery orders valued at $76,968.75 (June 2026), $25,781.25 (March 2026), $25,300.00 (September 2025), and $28,612.00 (October 2024), all firm fixed-price with no set-aside designation.

Beyond correctional education, Mount Marty holds three active federal grants focused on STEM and nursing infrastructure. The National Science Foundation awarded $416,091 (CFDA 47.083, October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2028) to implement the Dakota Biotechnology Rural Workforce Development Program, delivering biotechnology training through an online certificate combined with cohort-based internships coordinated across a network of 21 biotechnology companies in South Dakota. The NSF Division of Undergraduate Education awarded $1,999,742 (CFDA 47.076, July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2030) to support 75 full-time graduate students pursuing master's degrees in biotechnology through the Dakota Biotechnology Scholars initiative, with scholarship funding, mentoring, and career development services. The Department of Education's Office of Postsecondary Education awarded $370,000 (CFDA 84.116, September 1, 2024 through August 31, 2027) under Congressionally Directed Community Project Funding to purchase simulation equipment for the university's Nurse Anesthesia and Baccalaureate Nursing programs. Mount Marty also acts as a sub-recipient on a Department of Health and Human Services grant focused on South Dakota biomedical research infrastructure and holds minor sub-award activity with the University of South Dakota.

Activity has remained flat to declining over the past five years (two awards in 2022, five in 2023, six in 2024, five in 2025, two through June 2026), with only one award ($77 thousand combined potential value) facing ultimate completion inside the next twenty-four months. The Department of the Army accounts for seven recent awards, and the Department of Education for four, but both are substantially smaller than the Bureau of Prisons concentration. Mount Marty competes full-and-open without set-aside designation across its prime contract work; the top parent vehicles are Bureau of Prisons IDIQs (contract 15B41618D00000017 with 38 task orders, contract DJB41601002 with 25 task orders, contract J41601C002 with 17 task orders). The combined potential value across all 124 awards totals $3.9 million, though combined obligated dollars reach $9 million, reflecting substantial invoicing across the extended award history.