South Dakota Department Of Education

The South Dakota Department of Education, doing business as Deca, is a state government entity operating as a prime recipient of federal grants and a prime contractor, with a federal award footprint dominated by formula grants for child nutrition, education, and special education administered through the Department of Education and the Department of Agriculture. The entity is a child division of the State of South Dakota, headquartered in Pierre, South Dakota, and functions as the pass-through grantee for federal education and nutrition programs across the state.

Deca's federal portfolio spans 646 awards with a combined potential value of $4.8 million and obligated dollars of $4.04 billion across 26 distinct customer agencies. The source material reflects Deca's role as a state educational agency receiving and administering federal formula grants rather than competing for discretionary federal contracts. Recent representative awards include a $1.472 million definitive contract from the Institute of Education Sciences for National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) state coordinator services through March 2035, a $44,152.59 delivery order from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for arms access and collection maintenance fees (January 2026, with ultimate completion January 2029), and a $2.3 million combined portfolio from the Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences. Deca also holds a $749,000 single-award indefinite delivery contract with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for archeological services, from which two delivery orders have been issued ($109,647.45 in August 2023 and $229,693 in May 2022).

Customer concentration is heavily weighted toward federal education and nutrition programs. The Department of Education Office of Elementary and Secondary Education leads by award count with 218 awards, followed by the Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service with 231 combined awards across multiple sub-agencies (121, 82, and 28 awards in separate lines), and the Department of Education Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services with 63 awards, accounting for approximately 79% of all awards. By potential value, the top three customers are the Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences (3 awards, $2.3 million), the Department of the Army Corps of Engineers Engineering District Omaha (5 awards, $1.4 million), and the Department of the Army Corps of Engineers (6 awards, $948 thousand). The concentration reflects Deca's statutory role as the South Dakota State Educational Agency administering federal pass-through funding to local school districts, special education cooperatives, and community organizations.

Deca's grant footprint spans child nutrition programs including the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), School Breakfast Program (SBP), Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), and Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP); special education programs under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Parts B and C; and education programs including Title I basic grants, English Language Acquisition (Title III), Career and Technical Education (Perkins V), Student Support and Academic Enrichment (Title IV), and Twenty-First Century Community Learning Centers. Representative recent grants include a $24.2 million National School Lunch Program formula grant (October 2025–September 2026, CFDA 10.555), a $2.75 million Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program project grant (October 2025–September 2026, CFDA 10.582), a $6.5 million Twenty-First Century Community Learning Centers formula grant (July 2025–September 2026, CFDA 84.287), a $2.59 million Special Education–Grants for Infants and Families formula grant (July 2025–September 2026, CFDA 84.181), and a $6.69 million Student Support and Academic Enrichment formula grant (July 2025–September 2026, CFDA 84.424). Deca distributes the majority of these federal dollars as sub-awards to 70+ local educational agencies, school districts, nonprofit organizations, and community providers across South Dakota, including Sioux Falls School District No. 49-5, Rapid City Area School District 51-4, and tribal schools and the Bureau of Indian Education serving Native American populations. The recipient distributes funds through sub-awards to over 71 entities for National School Lunch Program implementation alone and to at least 16 nonprofit and school-based organizations for 21st Century Community Learning Centers programming.

Activity has remained stable at 31–36 awards per year over the past five years (2022–2025), with 2 awards recorded in 2026 to date. Recompete exposure within the next twenty-four months totals 38 awards with combined potential value of $230 thousand, representing formula grant renewals tied to annual federal appropriations cycles rather than competitive recompetes. Deca holds positions on two indefinite delivery contracts with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (W9128F17D0048, 6 task orders, $489 thousand; W9128F23D0047, 2 task orders, $154 thousand) for archeological and environmental support services. The entity's footprint reflects its constitutional and statutory role as a state educational and human services agency rather than a federal contractor competing in the commercial marketplace; nearly all awards are formula-based allocations determined by state student population, poverty thresholds, and child nutrition program participation rates, not competitive procurement.