Colorado State University

Colorado State University's Sponsored Programs division, operating as the academic research arm of a public 1862 Land Grant institution based in Fort Collins, Colorado, acts as a prime recipient on federal grants and a prime contractor on federal research and technical services contracts across civilian agencies—nearly exclusively in full-and-open competition and without set-aside designations. The division does not compete under preferential procurement categories.

The Sponsored Programs division delivers university-based research, scientific expertise, and technical services across life sciences, environmental management, agricultural innovation, and advanced materials discovery. Recent concrete work spans preclinical animal models of infectious diseases under a $146.3 million NIAID single-award IDV (Task Areas A–C: small animal models, non-human primate models, and animal replacement models); radiation quality and cancer initiation research for NASA Johnson Space Center ($5.7 million, firm fixed price, through May 2030); geospatial information systems development for Department of Defense installations ($2.1 million ESTCP award through October 2029); and riparian and wetland assessment and monitoring field work for Bureau of Land Management Nevada across 102 targeted sites ($516 thousand combined value, September 2025 through November 2026). The division also executes environmental monitoring, forest health, wildlife management, and conservation research across multiple Department of Defense and Department of Interior installations, positioning it as a frequent recipient of Sikes Act natural resource management cooperative agreements.

Customer concentration is diffuse across 306 distinct federal agencies. The top five funding sources by award count account for 32% of awards: the National Science Foundation (816 awards), USDA APHIS (563 awards), NASA Shared Services Center (407 awards), USDA NIFA (315 awards), and NIH NIAID (177 awards). By potential value, NIAID dominates with $502.2 million across 177 awards; NASA Shared Services Center follows at $102.2 million across 407 awards. The division carries a $146.3 million NIAID preclinical models IDV as its largest single vehicle, with subordinate delivery orders issued regularly. It also places work under GSA Federal Supply Schedule GS10F0507N (43 task orders, $9.2 million combined value) and multiple USDA blanket purchase agreements. Recent grants span National Science Foundation research programs (chemistry, biological sciences, geosciences, engineering, materials research), NASA Science Mission Directorate awards, Department of Energy Office of Science projects, Defense Health Agency research, NOAA Weather and Air Quality Research, and NIH institutes.

Activity has grown substantially from 360 awards in 2022 to a peak of 514 in 2024, with 333 awards in 2025 and 95 year-to-date in 2026 (reflecting partial-year data). The division faces a moderate recompete cliff: 516 awards valued at $51.7 million collectively reach completion within the next 24 months, exposing these positions to competitive rebid.

SCI-reportable federal service contract invoicing totaled $6.9 million across FY2022–FY2024 (9.6 FTEs in FY2022, 8.9 in FY2023, 9.8 in FY2024). Government-paid hourly rates on SCI-reportable contracts run a median $92.20/hr, with a 90th percentile of $529.06/hr, reflecting a mix of technical and professional labor. Across SCI-reportable prime contracts, subcontractors account for approximately 15% of total hours, with seven named subs appearing in the SCI dataset. The division operates primarily as a research prime and does not appear as a subcontractor on other primes in the SCI sample.

The Sponsored Programs division functions as the research commercialization and federal contracting vehicle for Colorado State University System (parent entity), leveraging the institution's land-grant research infrastructure, veterinary college, and academic expertise in natural resources, agricultural sciences, life sciences, and engineering to serve federal mission agencies. It does not hold IP ownership across the observed awards; deliverables are government property or remain in the public domain per standard federal research and development agreement terms.