East Tennessee State University

East Tennessee State University, a state-controlled public higher education institution headquartered in Johnson City, Tennessee, operates as a recipient and prime contractor delivering medical services, educational programs, and research to federal agencies—primarily the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of the Navy, and the National Institutes of Health—with no set-aside posture. The university competes full-and-open across federal agencies and derives its federal contracting portfolio through its James H. Quillen College of Medicine, College of Public Health, and related research infrastructure.

ETSU's prime federal work concentrates on healthcare delivery and medical research. As a healthcare services provider, the university holds two active indefinite delivery contracts with the Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Integrated Service Network 9: a $209,710.92 IDIQ running through July 31, 2030, for off-site autopsy services at the James H. Quillen VA Medical Center in Mountain Home, Tennessee, and a $37,122.21 definitive contract for cost-sharing under Executive Order 14398. The university also holds a Basic Ordering Agreement with the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (Department of the Navy) valued at up to the contract ceiling through May 31, 2035, for tuition, educational services, and specialized medical research. Recent delivery orders under these vehicles include $38,906 for Navy tuition and fees (August 2025), $75,566 for Bureau of Medicine and Surgery tuition and educational services (November 2024), and a $338,000 definitive contract for human research institutional review board services with VISN 9 (March 2024).

ETSU's research footprint is dominated by National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation grants. The university received 56 NIH awards, ranging from basic science investigations to applied clinical research. Recent major grants include $569,903 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (September 2026) for targeted delivery of CRISPR Cas12a ribonucleoproteins for HIV gene editing; $608,000 from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (September 2026) for MET-directed chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy development for glioblastoma; $626,472 from NIAID (June 2026) for lactate's role in immune dysfunction during sepsis; and $498,000 from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (September 2025) for acetaldehyde-protein adduct characterization in alcohol-associated liver disease. The university also received $2.6 million from the Health Resources and Services Administration Bureau of Health Professionals (August 2025) to expand medical student education and increase primary care physician supply in rural South Central Appalachia through the James H. Quillen College of Medicine's Division of Rural and Community Programs.

Customer concentration reflects the university's mission alignment. The top five funding agencies—Veterans Affairs (90 awards), NIH (56 awards), Department of Education Office of Postsecondary Education (50 awards), HRSA (47 awards), and Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (47 awards)—account for 35 percent of awards by count. By dollar potential, Veterans Integrated Service Network 9 leads with 39 awards valued at $3.9 million combined, followed closely by Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery with 47 awards at $3.8 million. The university served 85 distinct federal customer agencies across its award portfolio, reflecting broad agency relationships but concentrated delivery through two Navy contracts (46 and 11 task orders respectively) and a VA IDIQ contract ($9.4 million potential across seven task orders).

ETSU acts as a sub-recipient and research collaborator on approximately 18 percent of its federal awards, working under prime awardees including Augusta University Research Institute (cardiovascular and renal physiology research), University of Tennessee (trauma-informed care and child welfare programs), University of Kansas (school-based suicide prevention research), and Middle Tennessee State University (Small Business Development Center operations). Recent sub-award work includes assistance with recruitment, data collection, and analysis on multisite NIH-funded studies investigating gut metabolites and salt-sensitive hypertension and red blood cell trapping in kidney injury.

Activity has remained stable year over year with 70 awards in 2022, declining to 42 in 2023, then recovering to 55 in 2024 and 2025, with 36 recorded through late September 2026. Recompete exposure in the next twenty-four months is minimal: 28 awards (combined potential value $150 thousand) face ultimate completion dates before October 2028. The university's primary category concentration reflects its academic medical mission: 79 awards fall under Offices of Physicians (except Mental Health Specialists), 68 under Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools, and the balance spread across laboratory testing, pathology, and outpatient care codes. ETSU is a child entity of the Board of Regents Tennessee, a state government parent that also receives federal contracts and grants across healthcare workforce development and higher education initiatives.