DES Moines University Osteopathic Medical Center

DES Moines University Osteopathic Medical Center, doing business as DES Moines University, is a tax-exempt private medical and health sciences university headquartered in West Des Moines, Iowa that provides graduate-level osteopathic medical education and tuition services to federal agencies as a prime contract recipient (98% of recent awards) and federal grant recipient, competing full-and-open with no set-aside posture.

The university's federal footprint divides sharply between two business lines: tuition and fee contracts with the Department of Defense and biomedical research grants from the National Institutes of Health and allied agencies. On the contract side, DES Moines University holds a dominant position with the Department of the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, delivering tuition and graduate medical education services to naval medical personnel under an indefinite-delivery contract vehicle (N0014002GL723) that has issued 68 task orders totaling $11.4 million in combined potential value. The tuition-delivery work is routine and recurring — recent delivery orders include a $409,318 award dated May 1, 2023 for tuition and fees with ultimate completion December 29, 2023; a $348,602 award dated May 1, 2024 covering the full calendar year 2024; and a $327,578 award dated February 2, 2026 with completion June 1, 2026. The Navy and Air Force together account for 68% of recent award count and 97% of combined potential value. A secondary Air Force contracting presence runs through Basic Ordering Agreement F3360076A0376, which has issued 10 task orders.

On the research side, DES Moines University acts as prime recipient of federal grants from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Justice, and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Recent grant awards include a $536,335 NHLBI project grant (CFDA 93.837, Cardiovascular Diseases Research) awarded August 15, 2026 through April 30, 2029 to study physiological and biochemical mechanisms linking sleep apnea to hypertension and kidney dysfunction; a $317,960 National Science Foundation project grant (CFDA 47.041) awarded September 1, 2025 through August 31, 2028 to acquire and integrate a 3D motion capture system for graduate STEM research and education; a forensic anthropology project grant from the National Institute of Justice awarded January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2026 to standardize forensic saw mark analysis methods; and an $81,410 grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism awarded September 1, 2023 through August 31, 2026 examining glutamate receptor regulation in ethanol exposure and withdrawal. The university subcontracts as a grant sub-recipient on immunology research (University of Cincinnati prime, award September 2, 2025) and reproductive health research (Indiana University Trustees prime, award March 14, 2025).

Activity has remained modest and flat — between 2 and 5 awards per year from 2022 through 2026 — with only three awards reaching ultimate completion inside the next twenty-four months (combined potential value $69 thousand), creating minimal recompete pressure. The university's category concentration reflects this dual mission: 82 awards under NAICS 811 (Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools) anchor the grant and education research base, while 118 awards under PSC Education/Training—Tuition/Registration/Membership Fees represent Navy tuition delivery. The 21 distinct customer agencies served include the Department of Veterans Affairs (4 awards) and the Department of the Air Force (10 awards), but the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery relationship dominates both by award count and dollar magnitude.