The American Correctional Association

The American Correctional Association, a tax-exempt nonprofit organization headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, delivers correctional facility accreditation, audit, and assessment services to federal agencies as a prime contractor (99% of recent awards) under full-and-open competitive procurement. ACA operates across domestic and international correctional systems, conducting compliance evaluations, professional standards assessments, and certification services for detention centers, military brigs, and international correctional facilities.

ACA's customer base concentrates heavily with federal criminal justice and international development agencies. The top five customers account for 51% of recent awards, led by the Department of Justice Bureau of Prisons Central Office (36 awards, $13.1 million combined potential value) and the Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics Law Enforcement (40 awards, $5.4 million), followed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security Chief Procurement Officer, and the Department of the Navy Bureau of Naval Personnel. By dollar value, Bureau of Prisons dominates with $13.1 million across 36 awards, anchoring 42% of combined potential value; INL follows with $5.4 million across 40 awards, indicating INL places smaller, higher-volume orders. Recent representative work includes a $2.546 million definitive contract awarded June 2026 by the Bureau of International Narcotics Law Enforcement to audit and accreditate Mexican correctional facilities through May 2031, a $430,000 delivery order from Bureau of Prisons Central Office for ACA audits to maintain facility accreditation (July–September 2022), and a $249,951 purchase order from CDC to assess capacity to expand hepatitis C testing and treatment in U.S. correctional systems.

ACA holds a GSA Federal Supply Schedule contract (schedule 47QRAA26D003X) with a $7 million ceiling and performance period through February 2031, awarded February 2026. The schedule covers management and financial consulting, acquisition and grants management support, and business program and project management services under Special Item Number 541611RC, with delivery available domestically at the task order level. Historically, task orders under this schedule have ranged from $13,500 to $1.95 million and covered facility accreditation and re-accreditation services, comprehensive audit and assessment programs, and correctional officer certification services. ACA also holds a single-award Blanket Purchase Agreement with the Department of the Army's Training and Doctrine Command valued at $540,000 through June 2026 for correctional officer and supervisor certification services. Five parent indefinite delivery contracts and blanket purchase agreements account for the majority of recent work: Indefinite Delivery Contract DJBNCP026 (21 task orders, $15.5 million combined potential value) from the Bureau of Prisons, Indefinite Delivery Contract DJBNAS040 (6 task orders, $5.9 million) from the Bureau of Prisons, and HSCECR12A00012 (7 task orders, $216 thousand) from Homeland Security.

Activity has remained relatively consistent over the past five years (nine awards in 2022, eight in 2023, twelve in 2024, five in 2025, eight in 2026 year-to-date), with only one award facing ultimate completion in the next twenty-four months (combined potential value $42 thousand), indicating minimal recompete exposure through June 2027. ACA's award portfolio spans 34 distinct customer agencies and concentrates in NAICS 541611 (Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services), with top PSC codes reflecting audit and accreditation work: Support–Professional (Certifications and Accreditations, excluding education and IT) accounts for 62 awards, and Support–Management (Auditing) for 39. The Service Contract Inventory dataset captures minimal SCI-reportable activity for ACA (four records across FY2022–FY2024, with zero invoiced dollars as a prime and 1.0 FTE in FY2024), reflecting that ACA's contract portfolio consists predominantly of purchase orders and delivery orders below or at the $150,000 reporting threshold, outside SCI's scope. ACA subcontracts minimally, operating as prime on 99% of awards; the vendor serves as a subcontractor to CNA Corporation on a Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs COVID-19 detection and mitigation training task order and as a sub-recipient to the University of Massachusetts Medical School on a CDC-funded research grant focused on rural jail participation and ECHO program coordination.

ACA holds accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians. The organization recently won a five-year, $400,000 cooperative agreement from the CDC (award date August 2024, completion July 2029) to operate the ACA Correctional ECHO Program, which establishes communities of practice and educational webinars for correctional healthcare providers to address hepatitis C treatment and other correctional health challenges. ACA's professional standing and regulatory role as the accrediting body for Department of Defense correctional facilities — demonstrated by sole-source awards from the Navy for military brig accreditation audits — position the vendor as the federal government's principal third-party standards evaluator for the U.S. correctional system, domestic and international.