Headquarters

NASA Headquarters, an independent civilian agency that administers the nation's civil space program and procures contracts and awards grants for space exploration, science, aeronautics, and technology development, recorded 9,682 federal contract awards totaling $7.56 billion in combined potential value since 1980, with $6.89 billion obligated, alongside 38 federal grant awards totaling $13.7 million in combined federal dollars obligated since 2006.

Contract activity has averaged 127 to 139 awards annually over the last five years (2023–2025), with 123 awards in 2026 and 1 recorded award with a latest recorded award date of February 1, 2027. The contract portfolio is highly fragmented: the top five primes by award count—The Aerospace Corporation (71 awards, $83.9 million), Barrios Technology, LLC (59 awards, $15.4 million), Jones Lang Lasalle Americas, Inc. (52 awards, $3.8 million), National Academy Of Sciences (40 awards, $51.9 million), and Agile Decision Sciences, LLC (28 awards, $67.3 million)—account for 38 percent of recent awards over the last five years. By potential value, the same five primes hold only 4 percent of combined value, indicating that transactional volume is distributed across 1,442 distinct contractors with modest individual deal sizes. The portfolio reflects heavy use of Schedule task orders, BPA calls, and below-threshold purchases; 94 percent of awards carry no set-aside designation, with small-business set-asides (8(a) competitive, WOSB, SDVOSB, HUBZone) collectively representing 4 percent of awards.

Grant activity is episodic, with only 3 awards recorded in 2024 and the most recent award closed September 1, 2024. Recipients are highly fragmented: the top three by both award count and federal dollars—College of Charleston, The University of Mississippi, and Regents of The University of Idaho—each received one award for approximately $100,000 and together account for 100 percent of recent awards and only 2 percent of combined federal dollars. The assistance-type mix is predominantly Project Grants (84 percent, 32 awards) with a smaller share of Cooperative Agreements (16 percent, 6 awards).

Recent contract opportunities include a pre-solicitation for System Vicarious Calibration of the NASA PACE Ocean Color Instrument using HyperNav systems (NASA-SVC-PACE-OCI, due November 2, 2026, sole source to Oregon State University), and a special notice for the NASA Postdoctoral Program-3 (NPP-3) management and administration services contract (80HQTR27R0006, draft RFP posted October 16, 2026, final RFP and offer due dates anticipated for November and December 2026 respectively). A pre-solicitation for the Atmospheric Exploration Observatory partnership proposal (NNH26ZDA015L) closed December 2, 2026, and an opportunity for Habitable Worlds Observatory Instrument Concept Assessments (NNH25ZDA001N-HWOICA) closed October 14, 2026 with an amendment issued September 3, 2026.

Recent grant opportunities span NASA's science and technology directorates through ROSES 2025 (Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences) and standalone announcements. The Heliophysics Spaceflight Science Foundations program (NNH25ZDA001N-SSF, Cooperative Agreement or Grant, Step-1 due November 20, 2026, Step-2 due February 5, 2027) and Heliophysics Low-Cost Access to Space program (NNH25ZDA001N-LCAS, Cooperative Agreement or Grant, Step-1 due November 20, 2026, Step-2 due March 16, 2027) are open to all eligible applicants. The Space Technology Research Institutes program (NNH26ZTR001N-26STRI-B3, Grant, due November 3, 2026, maximum $13 million over five years) requires U.S. institutions of higher education with teaming among a minimum of three IHEs. The NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts Phase I program (NNH26ZTR001N-27NIAC-A1, Grant, Step A due October 28, 2026) supports exploratory research open to all U.S. organization types including individuals. Additional ROSES 2025 opportunities target Earth Science (Cryosphere, Hydrosphere, and Geosphere program elements with proposal due dates in December 2026 and January 2027), Heliophysics research, and Astrophysics (Theoretical and Computational Astrophysics Networks, NNH25ZDA001N-TCAN, Cooperative Agreement or Grant, mandatory NOI due October 15, 2026, proposals due December 3, 2026). The Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute Cooperative Agreement Notice-5 (NNH26ZDA016C, Cooperative Agreement, Step-1 due September 29, 2026, Step-2 due December 4, 2026) invites multi-institutional team-based proposals for lunar and Mars-forward research. All grant opportunities generally restrict federal funding to U.S. institutions, though non-U.S. organizations may participate on a no-exchange-of-funds basis where permitted.