Did you know that there are plenty of government agencies and programs run in Colorado? It certainly contradicts a previous discussion of ours. Recently our blog on Blending a Distributed Transformation Team pointed out:  “It is no secret that Politicians and Senior Executives in the Federal Government are Washington DC based. In the corporate world, they are Headquarter-based. They lead new policies, budget decisions, funding distribution, and forming core principles and program direction for defense and civilian programs.”

True as that may be, it is not very well known that a very large amount of those same programs are actually run out of Colorado and not just Washington DC. Colorado has over 53,000 Federal Government employees (Denver Post June 2011), not including federal contractors. The concentration of federal labs, military bases, land and science program management, and multiple science and operations centers are the main culprits. Denver has over 10,000 Federal Employees and contractors specifically, for the civilian programs. The operations, hosting, and mission functions for these programs are running in and around the Denver Federal Center. A majority of the agencies are earth or land-program-focused. In the commercial world, Denver also has a large presence in communications, satellites, financial, and restaurant headquarters, given its central U.S. location.

If you want to know more, read on to see a list of over 100 Agencies and functions referenced below.

Government Service Agencies – Land and Earth-Focused

Denver Federal Center (26 Agencies)

  • Department of the Interior (DOI)
    • Bureau of Land Management (BLM) – National Operations Center, Multiple System Engineering and Management Programs
    • U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) – National Water Quality Lab, Water Resources Research and Programs, Geospatial Operations, Earth Science and Analytics, Energy Resources, National Training Center, National Ice Core Lab, Core Research Center, Biological Resources, Geology Research Labs, Geologic Mapping, Library, Minerals and Availability, Global Change and Climate
    • Office of Surface Mining & Reclamation (OSMRE)
    • Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) – Technical Service Center, Civil Engineering, Water and Environmental Resources, Geotechnical, infrastructure services
    • Interior Business Center (IBC, formerly NBC) – Hosting Center, financial and business management systems
    • Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEM) – Mineral Revenue Management
  • U.S. Department of Agriculture – U.S. Forest Service (USFS)
  • Environmental Protection Agency
  • General Services Administration
  • Department of Labor – US Mine Safety and Health Administration

Due to long-term Federal Center development issues, around 10 other agencies are located just around the Denver Federal Center or next door in Golden

Denver Federal Center Perimeter & Lakewood

  • Department of the Interior (DOI)
    • National Parks Services (NPS) – Denver Service Center, NPS Planning, Design and Construction Management Office, Technical Information Center
    • Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) – Multiple System Engineering and Management Programs
    • Office of Inspector General (OIG)
  • Department of Energy
    • Western Area Power Administration (WAPA)
  • Bureau of Land Management (BLM) State Office

Golden

  • Department of Energy
    • Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Golden Field Office
    • National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) – National Lab for Solar, Wind, Biomass, Hydrogen, Geothermal, water power research, Technology Transfer, and Commercialization
  • Department of the Interior
    • U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)

Boulder

  • Department of Commerce
  • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
      • Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR)
      • The Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) – NOAA Environmental Software Infrastructure and Interoperability Group (NESII); NOAA’s Renewable Energy Program; and the Unmanned Aircraft Systems program (UAS).
      • National Weather Service (NWS)
      • Denver-Boulder Weather Forecast Office
      • Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC)
      • National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service (NESDIS)
      • National Geophysical Data Center
    • National Climatic Data Center – Paleoclimatology Branch
  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration

 Fort Collins

  • Department of the Interior
    • U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) – Science Center, John Wesley Powell Research Center
  • U.S. Department of Agriculture
    • Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) – Information Technology Center
    • Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service – Animal Care, Biotechnology Regulatory Services, International Services, Plant Protection & Quarantine, Center for Plant Health Science and Technology Lab, Veterinary Services, Wildlife Services, Wildlife Damage Management, National Wildlife Research Program (NWRC)
    • Agricultural Research Service – Natural Resources Research Center, Crops Research Lab, National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation

Other Civilian Government Agencies

Military Government Agencies

There are six Military Air Force Bases including Buckley AFB in Aurora and Fort Carson AFB in Colorado Springs. Tenants include Northern CommandHomeland DefenseFEMANORADUS ArmyAir National Guard, and National Guard as well as Intelligence functions.