Republic Of Palau

The Republic of Palau, operating through its Ministry of Finance, is a foreign government recipient of federal grants across education, infrastructure, workforce development, and environmental conservation programs, with a single firm fixed-price federal contract for weather service office support. Palau qualifies as a Freely Associated State under the Compact of Free Association with the United States and competes on a full and open basis across all federal assistance mechanisms—no set-asides apply to a foreign sovereign entity.

Palau's federal footprint centers on formula grants and project grants distributed through its Ministry of Finance to implement domestic development priorities. The most substantial single award is a $4.014 million firm fixed-price definitive contract from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, running May 1, 2023 through April 30, 2028, to provide weather service office support operations in Palau. The bulk of activity, however, flows through federal grant programs. The Department of the Interior's Office of Insular Affairs (CFDA 15.875, Economic, Social, and Political Development of the Territories program) dominates the portfolio: 82 awards including large-dollar formula grants for fiscal consolidation ($10 million for FY2025–2026), education sector support ($10.404 million for FY2025–2026), health sector operations ($10.404 million for FY2025–2026), and infrastructure maintenance ($5.202 million for FY2025–2026), alongside smaller project grants for marine ecosystem restoration ($285.467 thousand, awarded November 2025), submarine cable engineering ($194.400 thousand, awarded November 2025), and street naming and addressing systems ($310 thousand, awarded June 2024). The Department of Education's Office of Career Technical and Adult Education (26 awards) and Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (20 awards) provide formula grants under CFDA 84.048 (Career and Technical Education) and CFDA 84.027 (Special Education Grants to States), while the Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration (21 awards) funds workforce innovation and opportunity act (WIOA) programs and pandemic-related unemployment assistance administration. The Department of Transportation Federal Aviation Administration has awarded $1.778 million (Airport Improvement Program, CFDA 20.106) and $2.526 million (Airport Terminal Program, CFDA 20.118), both awarded July 2026 with completion in 2030, for runway safety area and terminal reconstruction at Koror airports. The Department of Agriculture Forest Service R5–Pacific Southwest Region has issued 16 project grants for forest action plan implementation, reforestation capacity building, and forest health protection under CFDA 10.680. The Institute of Museum and Library Services (Grants to States program, CFDA 45.310) and the Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families (Personal Responsibility Education Program, CFDA 93.092) round out the active customer base.

Combined potential value across all awards sits at $11.4 million when measured against contract/grant ceilings, but obligated federal funds total $592.9 million—reflecting the formula-grant structure under which full appropriations are obligated at award rather than drawn down incrementally. The portfolio spans 253 awards dating to 2007, with activity scaling from 15 awards in 2022 to 25 in 2024, then moderating to 21 in 2025 and 5 recorded through August 2026. Recompete exposure in the next twenty-four months encompasses 12 awards with combined potential value of $4 million. Palau operates as a prime recipient on all recorded federal grants and the NOAA contract; no subcontractor role appears in the portfolio. Service Contract Inventory data captures SCI-reportable invoicing of $3.8 million across five prime records spanning FY2022–2023, representing roughly 13 to 26 FTEs on federal service contracts in those years, with government-paid median hourly rates around $11.88/hr and senior labor pricing through $96.09/hr. No subcontract engagement is recorded in the SCI dataset.