East Tennessee State University

East Tennessee State University, a state-controlled public higher education institution headquartered in Johnson City, Tennessee, operates as a prime recipient of federal grants and holds prime federal contracts serving the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of the Navy, and the National Institutes of Health. The university competes on a full-and-open basis without SBA set-aside designations. ETSU is a subsidiary of the Board of Regents Tennessee.

ETSU's federal footprint centers on three distinct capability areas. First, the university delivers specialized medical services to the VA through its James H. Quillen College of Medicine—most notably off-site autopsy services under a single-award IDIQ with Veterans Integrated Service Network 9 valued at $209,710.92 running through July 2030, and human research institutional review board services under a definitive contract. Second, ETSU provides tuition and educational services to the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery for military medical personnel through a Basic Ordering Agreement with the Bureau effective through May 2035, with multiple firm fixed-price delivery orders totaling tens of thousands of dollars annually. Third, the university conducts biomedical research funded by NIH institutes including the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, spanning infectious disease mechanisms, polysubstance use disorders, sepsis immunology, and cardiovascular health. Representative recent prime grants include $626,472 from NIAID for sepsis and B cell dysfunction research, $831,608 from NIDA for hypocretin pathway studies in polysubstance use, and $2.6 million from the Health Resources and Services Administration to expand rural primary care physician training through Quillen College of Medicine.

Customer concentration is moderate and distributed across federal agencies. The Department of Veterans Affairs leads by award count at 90 awards, followed by NIH at 56 awards and the Department of Education at 50 awards. The VA Veterans Integrated Service Network 9 and the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery together account for significant dollars—$3.9 million and $3.8 million respectively in combined potential value. The top five customer agencies by award count represent 36% of all awards. ETSU holds two primary parent vehicles: an Indefinite Delivery Contract with the Navy (N0014098G2443) with 46 task orders valued at $3.8 million, and a Basic Ordering Agreement with the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (N0060085G1713) with 11 task orders.

Activity has remained steady over the past five years, averaging 47 awards annually (2022: 70; 2023: 42; 2024: 55; 2025: 55; 2026: 12 to date). The combined potential value across all recent awards stands at $23.5 million, though obligated dollars are substantially higher at $515.7 million, reflecting multi-year grants and contracts. Thirty-four awards face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months with combined potential value of $150 thousand, representing moderate recompete exposure. The university acts as a prime on 675 of 811 awards (83%) and as a sub-recipient on 136 (17%), indicating a primary contractor posture. Grant sub-awards flow through partnership arrangements with NIH-funded research institutions (Augusta University, University of Tennessee, University of Kansas Center for Research), state health departments (Tennessee Department of Health, Tennessee Department of Mental Health & Substance Abuse Services), and other universities supporting regional workforce development and public health initiatives.

ETSU's portfolio is dominated by education and training delivery (76 awards under tuition/registration/membership-fee PSC codes) and medical services including surgery, pathology, and laboratory testing. The university's capability set reflects its identity as a regional public university with a medical school and research enterprise focused on rural health workforce development, infectious disease research, and substance use disorder treatment in Central Appalachia. The institution does not hold prime federal contracts on GWACs or civilian agency IDIQs outside the VA and Navy relationships documented here, positioning it as a specialized provider to healthcare-aligned federal customers rather than a broad-based IT or professional-services contractor.