Protectores De Cuencas Inc.

Protectores De Cuencas Inc. (PDC Division) is a minority-owned, Hispanic American-owned nonprofit organization based in Puerto Rico that delivers environmental restoration, habitat management, and wildfire prevention services to federal agencies as a grant recipient (84% of recent awards) and as a subcontractor on federal cooperative agreements. The organization operates exclusively through federal grant and cooperative agreement vehicles; it holds no federal contracts and does not sit on government-wide contract vehicles.

PDC's capability portfolio centers on ecological restoration, native plant propagation, fire mitigation, and watershed management across Puerto Rico, Vieques, and Culebra. Representative prime grant work includes a $1.058 million three-year Cooperative Forestry Assistance award (CFDA 10.664) from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service for forest stewardship management and habitat restoration; a $498,606 Community Wildfire Defense Grants award (CFDA 10.720) from USDA Forest Service for landscape-scale wildfire prevention planning in southern Puerto Rico; a $7.3 million Cooperative Agreement from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for Guánica Lagoon restoration to improve water quality and reduce land-based pollution; and a $1.069 million WaterSMART (CFDA 15.507) grant from the Bureau of Reclamation for 107-acre coastal wetland restoration at Punta Tuna Natural Reserve. A $118,788 firm fixed-price purchase order from the Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Region 5 (awarded January 2024, completing October 2025) supported land clearing and fire prevention at Laguna Cartagena National Wildlife Refuge in Puerto Rico.

Customer concentration is dominated by interior and commerce agencies. The top five funding sources account for 91% of awards by count: the Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Region 4 (20 awards, $237 thousand combined potential value), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (18 awards), the National Resources Conservation Service (11 awards), the Department of Agriculture Forest Service International Institute of Tropical Forestry Jardin Botanico Sur (8 awards), and the Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service (4 awards). The disparity between award count and potential-value rankings reflects the mix of planning-phase cooperative agreements and larger restoration grants, with FWS Region 4 and NOAA anchoring most of the activity by volume but potential-value distribution spread across multiple agencies.

PDC operates primarily as a grant recipient rather than a contract prime, executing cooperative agreements and project grants with federal agencies that carry research, planning, and implementation scope. The organization acts as a subcontractor on federal grant awards administered through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, executing sub-grants focused on nature-based solutions for flood reduction, riparian buffer installation, and coastal habitat enhancement. Service Contract Inventory data shows minimal SCI-reportable service-contract activity (0.1 FTEs in FY2022 and FY2024 across three sub records), reflecting PDC's grant-centric operational model rather than federal services contracting.

Ten awards reach ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, representing recompete exposure. Recent grant sub-awards from the National Fish And Wildlife Foundation (six sub-grants awarded January–March 2026) support riparian forest buffers along Río Loco and Río Anasco, living shorelines on Culebra Island, and riparian herbaceous buffers with vetiver grass to reduce sediment runoff to coral reefs. A sub-grant from River Network (awarded January 2025) funds urban forest expansion across southern Puerto Rico, with PDC committing to plant 8,000 native trees and engage community volunteers in three education events.