Baylor College Of Medicine

Baylor College of Medicine, a private non-profit research-intensive academic health sciences institution headquartered in Houston, Texas, operates as a federal prime contractor and grant recipient delivering specialized medical and biomedical research services across clinical care, translational science, and basic research to the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Veterans Affairs. The institution is not set-aside eligible and competes full-and-open across its federal portfolio, which spans 4,839 total awards (82% prime, 18% sub) with combined potential value of $3.76 billion and obligated dollars of $9.11 billion as of 2026 Q4.

Baylor's capability portfolio centers on four concrete service domains grounded in active awards: genomic sequencing and clinical laboratory services (including whole-genome sequencing, exome sequencing, and transplant immunology testing through delivery orders with the Department of Veterans Affairs and NIAID); biomedical research infrastructure and services across cancer biology, cardiovascular disease, immunology, and infectious disease research (exemplified by a $27.5 million NHLBI Centralized Omics Resource delivery order for the Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine initiative and a $4.99 million NCI Cancer Centers Support Grant for pediatric leukemia research); clinical trial conduct and site participation across multiple federal grant programs; and research training and professional development in kidney, urologic, and hematologic disease research through cooperative agreements with NIDDK.

Customer concentration is heavily tilted toward the NIH and subordinate institutes. The top five funding agencies account for approximately 45% of award count, led by NIH broadly (938 awards), followed by the National Cancer Institute (457 awards, $108.7 million combined potential value), the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (278 awards, $1.28 billion combined potential value), the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (256 awards, $1.2 billion), and the Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Integrated Service Network 17 (149 awards, $90.8 million). The dollar ranking diverges from volume: NHLBI and NIAID anchor the largest combined potential values despite lower award counts, reflecting multi-million-dollar research program awards; NCI ranks third by dollars despite second-largest award count, reflecting a mix of cooperative agreements and smaller project grants.

Baylor holds positions on indefinite delivery vehicles and task-order-based vehicles rather than government-wide acquisition contracts. The top parent vehicles include an indefinite delivery contract (N0014098G2419) with 31 task orders worth $519 thousand combined potential value, the Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Units mechanism (20 task orders, $27.5 million), and two additional single-award IDIQs with Veterans Affairs. Most of Baylor's federal work flows through grant and cooperative agreement mechanisms (project grants, training grants, research center support grants) rather than through streamlined acquisition vehicles, reflecting the institution's mission as a research university rather than a federal services contractor.

Activity has been volatile year-to-year. Award volume peaked in 2024 at 474 awards, contracted to 381 in 2025, and dropped to 123 in 2026 Q1–Q4 (partial year). This trajectory does not reflect declining mission but rather typical grant funding cycles and the source's cutoff date in July 2026. Within the next 24 months, 404 awards with combined potential value of $65.6 million reach ultimate completion, presenting a substantial recompete window, particularly for VA delivery orders, NIH training grants, and renewal-eligible research cooperative agreements.

SCI-reported federal service contract invoicing across Baylor's prime records reached $25.7 million across FY2022–FY2024, with FY2022 the strongest year at $13.4 million across 67.7 FTEs. This represents a narrow slice of Baylor's total federal research enterprise—SCI captures only service contracts above the $150,000 threshold and excludes goods, research grants, and non-federal revenue. Across SCI-reportable prime contracts, median government-paid hourly rates ran approximately $123.77/hr, ranging from roughly $3.65/hr at the 10th percentile to $640.28/hr at the 90th percentile. The wide variance reflects a mixed labor portfolio spanning entry-level research support, clinical staff, and senior scientific personnel. Across SCI-reportable prime contracts, subcontractors accounted for approximately 7% of total contractor hours, with five named subcontractors, indicating that Baylor builds most of its federal service delivery through internal teams rather than extensive sub-engagement.

Named subsidiaries include Baylor Miraca Genetics Laboratories LLC (joint venture delivering clinical genomics services) and Xploration Health LLC, which extend Baylor's service delivery capabilities into specialized diagnostics and health technology. The institution's federal footprint reflects its status as an academic research enterprise anchored to NIH mission areas (cancer research, cardiovascular disease, immunology, infectious disease, child health, and neuroscience) and VA clinical partnership, with minimal presence in defense, civilian IT, or federal acquisition services contracting.