Catholic University Of America (The)

Catholic University of America (The), a private non-profit research university and the national university of the Catholic Church in the United States, acts as a prime recipient on federal research grants and as a prime contractor on federal research and educational service contracts across civilian and defense agencies, competing in full-and-open procurements without set-asides.

CUA operates as a comprehensive federal research institution with a diverse capability portfolio spanning space science, atmospheric research, physics, engineering, medical research, and specialized graduate-level technical education. In space science, the university conducts investigations funded through NASA in solar physics and space weather—including coronal mass ejections, solar flare energy budgets, auroral dynamics, and magnetospheric reconnection—as well as astrophysics research on cometary composition, stellar phenomena, and black hole winds. In atmospheric research, CUA investigates geomagnetic variations, thermospheric circulation, and ionospheric processes. The university also delivers specialized ocean acoustics coursework and research to the Navy through graduate-level engineering instruction covering advanced signal processing, Fourier acoustics, and Kalman filtering. Recent representative work includes a $1.34 million NASA cooperative agreement for molecular chemistry research on comets and the interstellar medium (awarded September 2024), a $306.2 million research project from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research on oral mucositis mechanisms (awarded August 2025), a $968 thousand single-award blanket purchase agreement with Naval Sea Systems Command for ocean acoustics services and educational courses (effective through July 2027), a $149.1 million research grant from NASA for space science and exploration research (awarded April 2025), and a $150 thousand Air Force Young Investigator Program award on cusp plasma filaments and reconnection-driven particle precipitation (awarded October 2025).

Customer concentration reflects NASA's overwhelming dominance: NASA's Shared Services Center alone accounts for 378 awards worth $166.3 million combined potential value (40% of the portfolio), with NASA Goddard Space Center and NASA headquarters contributing an additional 117 awards and $65.2 million. The Department of the Navy ranks second with 122 awards totaling $147.1 million—split between Naval Sea Systems Command (23 awards, $3.9 million for acoustics services and training) and broader Navy research funding. The National Science Foundation contributes 85 awards across geosciences, astronomical sciences, and STEM education. Combined, the top five customer entities account for 95% of CUA's combined potential value. Unlike typical contractor concentration patterns, this split—where dollars and award count align—reflects NASA's funding of CUA's extensive research mission across multiple small grants rather than a small number of large contract vehicles.

CUA holds a single-award $968 thousand blanket purchase agreement with Naval Sea Systems Command (effective July 2022 through July 2027) for ocean acoustics services, research, and specialized graduate-level educational courses supporting Navy maritime technical capability development. This vehicle has generated eight firm fixed-price task orders ranging from $112.5 thousand to $124.7 thousand for delivery of acoustic and signal processing coursework. Additionally, CUA holds a Basic Ordering Agreement with the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (effective February 2026 through February 2036) with a $0 ceiling value that establishes a framework for future orders but obligates no current funds. The university's federal work is predominantly grant-based rather than IDV-driven; it sits on no GSA Schedules or government-wide acquisition contracts and relies primarily on direct grant awards from NASA, NSF, and NIH rather than competitive task-order vehicles.

CUA operates as a 96% prime recipient and contractor across its award portfolio, with only 58 sub-awards (4%) to other institutions. In its rare subcontractor role, CUA performs work under prime grant recipients including the University of Maryland College Park (Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology II, NASA Goddard Center programs), Cornell University (US CMS Detector Upgrade Project for the High Luminosity Large Hadron Collider), Auburn University (cometary composition research), the University of Colorado (meteoroid impact modeling for lunar science), and George Mason University (solar irradiance and atmospheric dynamics research). A single SCI-reportable prime contract exists in the dataset (FY2024), showing minimal federal service-contract revenue capture in that reporting system, which excludes research grants and most university-based work. SCI shows 0.5 FTEs on a sub-award in FY2024, confirming that CUA's federal activity is almost entirely grant-funded research rather than time-and-materials or cost-plus service contracts.

CUA's award trajectory shows growth from 47 awards in 2022 to 69 in 2024, followed by a decline to 60 in 2025 and 16 awards captured in the first half of 2026 (a partial-year figure). The recompete cliff presents moderate risk: 83 awards with ultimate completion dates in the next twenty-four months carry combined potential value of $10.4 million. The combined obligated dollars ($600.7 million) exceed the combined potential value ($406.7 million) by 48%, reflecting either fully obligated multi-year grants or conservatively estimated ceiling values on indefinite awards. The bulk of CUA's federal activity operates through competitive research grant programs (NASA ROSES, NSF GEO, NSF STEM Education, NIH R01 mechanisms) rather than vehicle-based task-order competition, positioning the university as a distributed prime recipient across eighty-one distinct federal agencies and programs rather than as a high-volume vendor on a small set of federal acquisition vehicles.