Southeast Metropolitan Planning Organization

Southeast Metropolitan Planning Organization, a U.S. local government planning commission based in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, receives federal transportation planning grants as a sub-recipient under pass-through awards from state departments of transportation, with no prime contracting or direct federal contract vehicles.

The organization's federal footprint is limited to three sub-grant awards under the Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration, all flowing through state transportation agencies as prime grantees. In May 2026, SEMPO received a FY 2027 Annual Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) Planning Agreement sub-award from the Missouri Department of Transportation; in June 2025, a comparable FY 2026 agreement from Missouri DOT; and in October 2023, a Function B68 Cape Girardeau annual 3-C planning agreement sub-award from the Illinois Department of Transportation. The three awards total $130 thousand in combined obligated dollars. SEMPO's customer concentration is singular — all three awards flow from FHWA-administered pass-throughs, with Missouri DOT as the dominant prime grantee (two awards). Activity appears episodic rather than sustained: one award in 2023, a gap through 2024, one award in 2025, and one in 2026, suggesting annual or periodic planning-cycle funding rather than continuous operations funding. SEMPO operates exclusively as a sub-recipient; it holds no prime federal grants, no federal contracts, and no seats on government-wide vehicles or agency-wide IDIQs. The organization's role in the federal sphere is confined to metropolitan planning organization (MPO) functions — regional transportation planning, congestion mitigation analysis, and air-quality coordination — performed under subawards from state DOTs that are themselves recipients of federal FHWA planning dollars.