West Virginia Adjutant General

West Virginia Adjutant General, operating as West Virginia Adjutant General's Office, is a state government entity functioning as a prime recipient of federal cooperative agreements and grants, with a subsidiary role passing through sub-awards to state and local entities within West Virginia. The organization does not hold federal contracts or IDVs; its federal footprint is entirely grant-based, centered on National Guard operations and maintenance, youth education and workforce development programs, and emergency management activities.

The entity is a child agency of the State of West Virginia, headquartered in Charleston, West Virginia. All work is performed in West Virginia, with named operational locations including Charleston, Martinsburg, Kingwood, and subordinate National Guard armory and facility sites statewide. The organization's grant portfolio spans cooperative agreements under non-discretionary, Congressionally directed programs restricted to state National Guard leadership entities; only the fifty states, territories, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico are eligible recipients under these programs.

West Virginia Adjutant General's primary customer concentration reflects its state National Guard mandate. The top five funding agencies account for 89 percent of recent awards by count. The Department of the Army National Guard and the Department of the Army West Virginia Army National Guard together anchor 283 awards through National Guard Military Operations and Maintenance cooperative agreements (CFDA 12.401) funding facility operations, maintenance, and authorized service support activities. The Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service has issued 46 awards for National School Lunch Program reimbursement sub-awards passed to the West Virginia Department of Education. The Federal Emergency Management Agency Headquarters Financial Assistance Awards division has funded 20 awards for emergency protective measures, grant management, and debris removal activities, passed to the West Virginia Division of Emergency Management. The Department of the Air Force and Air National Guard have funded eighteen awards for National Guard facility operations, fire protection, environmental compliance, and security at Air National Guard installations including Martinsburg.

Beyond National Guard operations, West Virginia Adjutant General administers three federal youth development and workforce programs. The National Guard ChalleNGe Program (CFDA 12.404), funded by Department of Defense Washington Headquarters Service, delivers military-based training, supervised work experience, and comprehensive life skills development to at-risk youth aged 16-18 who are credit deficient or have discontinued secondary school attendance. Recent cooperative agreements total $5.28 million (FY25 North) and $2.69 million (FY25 Jobs) for residential and post-residential programming operating from Kingwood, West Virginia, with a 75-to-25 federal-to-state cost-share arrangement. STARBASE 2.0 (CFDA 12.020), also funded by Washington Headquarters Service, combines STEM activities with school-based mentoring for middle and high school students in partnership with local school districts. Recent awards include a $411,206 cooperative agreement for statewide STARBASE programming and a $391,242 agreement for operations in Martinsburg, West Virginia. Youth Challenge Jobs (CFDA not specified) and Youth Challenge North program extensions were awarded July 1, 2026, with ultimate completion dates of June 30, 2027.

The entity acts as prime recipient on 343 awards (83 percent) and passes sub-awards to state agencies on 68 grants (17 percent). Sub-recipients include the West Virginia Department of Education (National School Lunch Program reimbursements for breakfast and lunch) and the Division of Emergency Management (COVID-19 emergency protective measures, debris removal, and grant management costs). Recent sub-award activity to the West Virginia Department of Education has continued monthly throughout 2025 and into 2026 for NSLP reimbursements.

Activity has grown steadily: eighteen awards in 2022 to a peak of fifty awards in 2025, with twenty-three awards recorded in 2026 (through September). Only five awards face ultimate completion inside the next twenty-four months, indicating low recompete pressure. Combined obligated funding across all awards totals $819.7 million, concentrated in National Guard operations and maintenance cooperative agreements and federal grant pass-throughs to state educational and emergency management entities.