Division of Information and Intelligent Systems

The National Science Foundation Division of Information and Intelligent Systems, a sub-agency within the civilian National Science Foundation, funds research and development in computer science, artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, and related information technology fields primarily through competitive federal grants to academic and research institutions.

The Division's contract footprint is minimal, with 13 awards totaling $31.6 million in combined potential value since 2012. Recent contract activity shows 1 award in 2021, 2 in 2023, 2 in 2024, 2 in 2025, and 2 so far in 2026, with the latest recorded award date in September 2026. The agency has obligated $26.8 million against its contract potential value. Over the last five years, the contract competitive base is highly fragmented — the top five primes hold 88 percent of recent awards by count but only 25 percent by combined potential value. GBS Solutions Corp and Strategic Solutions International, LLC each hold 2 awards; GBS has the largest combined potential value at $3.2 million, while Agile Business Concepts LLC holds $3.1 million across a single award. The remaining eight primes account for single awards with nominal values. The contract set-aside mix tilts toward open competition: 54 percent of awards carry no set-aside designation, 38 percent are 8(a) sole source, and 8 percent are small-business set-asides.

Grant activity dominates the Division's portfolio. It has issued 4,903 grants totaling $2.12 billion in federal dollars obligated since 2002, with the most recently recorded grant award date in January 2027. Annual grant volume declined across the window: 541 awards in 2023, 433 in 2024, 434 in 2025, and 299 so far in 2026, with 5 recorded for 2027. Among 424 distinct recipients over the last five years, grant funding is highly fragmented — the top five recipients hold 12 percent of recent awards by count and 6 percent of recent federal dollars obligated. Carnegie-Mellon University leads with 73 awards and $31.9 million in federal dollars obligated; Georgia Tech Research Corp is second with 48 awards and $30.4 million obligated; the University of Michigan, University of Washington, and University of California San Diego round out the top five. Virtually all grants are Project Grants (4,882 awards, 100 percent); Cooperative Agreements account for 21 awards (0 percent).

The Division of Information and Intelligent Systems (IIS) studies the inter-related roles of people, computers, and information. IIS supports research and education activities that 1) develop new knowledge about the role of people in the design and use of information technology; 2) increase our capability to create, manage, and understand data and information in circumstances ranging from personal computers to globally-distributed systems; and 3) advance our understanding of how computational systems can exhibit the hallmarks of intelligence