National Council For Behavioral Health

National Council For Behavioral Health, doing business as National Council For Mental Wellbeing, is a Washington, DC–based tax-exempt non-profit organization that provides mental health first aid training, behavioral health workforce development, training and technical assistance (TTA), and integrated care consulting to federal agencies as a prime contractor (77% of recent awards) and grant recipient. The organization competes in full-and-open procurements with no set-aside designations across its federal portfolio.

The organization's federal work centers on concrete training and technical assistance delivery. Representative prime contract work includes a $11.2 million cost-plus award fee delivery order from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) for the Serious Mental Illness Training and Technical Assistance Center (SMI-TTAC), running through September 2028 and covering curriculum development, workforce development initiatives, and consulting services for serious mental illness treatment and recovery; a $6.9 million delivery order from SAMHSA for the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics State Technical Assistance Center (CCBHC-TAC), supporting state implementation of the CCBHC model with training and consulting; and a $484,200 firm fixed price contract from the Department of Housing and Urban Development for mental health first aid training completion by September 2025. Smaller purchase orders from the Indian Health Service ($63,000), Air Force Space Command ($31,500), and the Smithsonian Institution ($31,870) cover mental health first aid instructor training and certification. Grant work includes a $5.5 million SAMHSA project grant (CFDA 93.243) as prime recipient for the National Center of Excellence for Integrated Health Solutions (CIHS), running through September 2029 and supporting bi-directional primary and behavioral health care integration across 50 states, territories, and tribes; a CDC cooperative agreement (CFDA 93.074) for $200,000 to establish a Behavioral Health Training Institute for Health Officials supporting community behavioral health workforce capacity-building; and a five-year CDC cooperative agreement (CFDA 93.068) for the National Behavioral Health Network for Tobacco and Cancer Control, building on nine years of network operations reaching more than 3.8 million people across HHS regions.

Customer concentration centers on HHS agencies. The top five customer agencies account for 66% of recent awards by count, led by HHS Indian Health Service (21 awards, $736 thousand combined potential value) and SAMHSA (15 awards, $60.1 million combined potential value). By potential dollar value, SAMHSA dominates with $60.1 million (85% of all combined potential), followed by HHS Health Resources and Services Administration (1 award, $6.9 million). The organization has engaged with 23 distinct federal agencies, including the Departments of Defense, Labor, Housing and Urban Development, and the Army and Air Force, but concentration is tightly held within SAMHSA and Indian Health Service for small purchase orders. The organization holds task orders under a SAMHSA Indefinite Delivery Vehicle (IDV 75S20322D00024, $18 million combined potential value on 2 task orders) and placement under other SAMHSA IDVs.

Activity shows 96 total awards in the source data spanning from 2000 to April 2026, with a five-year trend of 3 awards in 2022, growing to 13 in 2024, then moderating to 8 in 2025 and 2 in 2026 year-to-date. Combined potential value across all awards stands at $70.6 million, but obligated dollars total $208.1 million (295% of potential value), reflecting multi-year grant awards and contract performance spanning several fiscal years. Two awards with combined potential value of $6.9 million reach ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months.

The organization operates primarily as a prime — 77% of awards carry prime status — with 23% sub-award participation, primarily as a grant sub-recipient under American Academy of Pediatrics, University of Missouri, Tennessee Department of Health, and other state and nonprofit primes. Sub-contract work includes technical assistance for the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors on state mental health transformation initiatives and training. SCI-reported invoicing on federal service contracts above the $150,000 threshold totaled $1.6 million in FY2024 across 3.5 FTEs on prime contracts, with government-paid rates ranging from $155 per hour (10th percentile) to $211 per hour (90th percentile), median $193 per hour. SCI coverage is limited (5 total SCI records spanning FY2023–FY2024), indicating the bulk of the organization's federal work flows through grants and training contracts below or outside the SCI reporting threshold.

The organization's capability portfolio, grounded in NAICS codes, centers on administrative and management consulting (22 awards), professional and scientific services (17 awards), and professional management development training (10 awards). Work product includes curricula, training delivery, learning networks, workforce capacity building, technical assistance toolkits, and policy guidance for behavioral health systems and provider organizations nationwide.