Division of Computing and Communication Foundations

The National Science Foundation Division of Computing and Communication Foundations is a civilian sub-agency that funds research and development in computing and communication science through competitively awarded grants to academic and research institutions, with minimal contract activity.

NSF CCF operates within the National Science Foundation as a grant-making research-funding division. The division has awarded 3,745 federal grants totaling $1.62 billion in federal dollars obligated since its first award in 2001. Grant activity has remained consistent in recent years: 435 awards in 2023, 356 in 2024, 294 in 2025, 329 in 2026, and 1 award recorded in 2027. Nearly all grants are Project Grants; three awards carry Cooperative Agreement structures. The division has also executed four federal contracts totaling $781 thousand in combined potential value since 2012, with the most recent contract award dated in February 2025.

Among recent grant recipients over the last five years, Carnegie-Mellon University leads by award count with 58 grants totaling $25.1 million in federal dollars obligated, followed by the Regents of the University of Michigan with 42 awards and $19.6 million, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology with 37 awards and $20.7 million. Georgia TECH Research Corp and the University of Southern California round out the top five by award count. The top five recipients account for only 12 percent of recent awards by count and 6 percent of recent federal dollars, indicating a highly fragmented grant portfolio distributed across 286 distinct recipients. Carnegie-Mellon University is the sole prime contractor in recent contract activity, holding 2 awards valued at $21 thousand.

The vast majority of NSF CCF contract awards carry no set-aside designation; one award was structured as an 8(a) sole-source contract. Grant funding flows predominantly to research universities, with no reported concentration of federal dollars among a dominant coalition of recipients. Year-to-date 2026 grant award volume is on pace with prior-year trends, with 329 grants awarded. The division's contract portfolio is negligible relative to its grant-making footprint and does not represent a material pursuit vector for contract-focused firms.

The Division of Computing and Communication Foundations (CCF) supports research and education projects that explore the foundations of computing and communication devices and their usage. The Division seeks advances in computing and communication theory, algorithms for computer and computational sciences, and architecture and design of computers and software. CCF-supported projects also investigate revolutionary computing models and technologies based on emerging scientific ideas and integrate research and education activities to prepare future generations of computer science and engineering workers.