Fordham University

Fordham University, a private Jesuit research institution headquartered in The Bronx, New York, operates as a federal grant recipient and federal contractor providing tuition and fees educational services to the U.S. Navy, research and development services to civilian science agencies, and clinical tax representation and mental health training programs across the National Science Foundation, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of the Treasury, and the Department of the Navy.

Fordham is a tax-exempt nonprofit corporation classified by the source as a private university, college, and educational institution. As a research university, the institution holds the primary NAICS classification of Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools. The university competes in full-and-open procurements and does not hold SBA set-asides; its work across federal customers spans both prime grants and contracts (86% of awards) and subcontractor roles (14% of awards) under major research institutions.

The capability portfolio spans three distinct federal markets. First, Fordham provides tuition and fees support to Navy personnel through the Naval Education and Training Command, with four delivery orders valued at $26,140 to $56,750 each, concentrated around education-services PSCs (Education/Training— Tuition/Registration/Membership Fees accounts for 44 awards across the portfolio). Second, the university operates as a research grant recipient under the National Science Foundation across the Computer and Information Science and Engineering, Engineering, Social Behavioral and Economic Sciences, Biological Sciences, and Materials Research programs. Representative NSF awards include a $690,583 project grant for quantum computing optimization and management systems (EXPANDQISE), a $399,390 award for distributed quantum computing security research under the SATC 2.0 program, and a $393,021 Materials Chemistry award on lead-free perovskite discovery using machine learning. Third, Fordham administers federal grant programs including a Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic grant from the Internal Revenue Service (tuition and fees for law school students representing low-income taxpayers in tax controversies), an $811,316 Bureau of Justice Assistance grant for school violence prevention in New York City, and Inflation Reduction Act pass-through environmental justice grantmaking under EPA Region 2. The university also holds multiple NIH grants through the National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, and National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, spanning neuroscience, psychiatry, behavioral health, and cardiometabolic research.

Fordham's customer concentration reflects diversified federal engagement across 72 distinct agencies. The top five customers by award count are the National Science Foundation (32 awards), Department of the Army (25 awards), Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service (23 awards), Department of Health and Human Services National Institutes of Health (21 awards), and the Department of the Navy Naval Education and Training Command (10 awards, $1.3 million combined potential value). These five account for 39% of all awards. By potential value, the Naval Education and Training Command carries the largest denominated total at $1.3 million across tuition contracts, while NSF, Army, Treasury, and the Department of Justice FBI each anchor significant research dollars despite the overall portfolio showing $1.7 million combined potential value across 288 awards—indicating that much of the actual federal dollars obligated ($246.4 million) flow through multi-year recurring grant arrangements rather than discrete procurement orders.

Fordham places work under five named parent vehicles, predominantly Basic Ordering Agreements with the Navy (BOA N0024418G0006 carries 9 task orders worth $327 thousand) and Indefinite Delivery Contracts with the Army (DAKF4079H0027 with 6 task orders and three additional IDCs with smaller volumes). These are primarily education and professional development vehicles rather than broad-based competitive GWACs.

Activity has declined modestly from 22 awards in 2022 to 9 in 2026 (year-to-date). Eighteen awards face ultimate completion in the next twenty-four months, representing recompete exposure for the university and opportunity for competitive intelligence on renewal priorities.

Fordham operates as a sub-recipient under major research universities and healthcare systems including Yale University (retinal biology research), the Johns Hopkins University (quantum computing education competition), Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine (multiple sub-awards in neurobehavioral COVID research and health careers training), University of Connecticut Health Center (juvenile justice systems evaluation), Michigan State University (youth discrimination and sleep health research), and others. In these roles, Fordham faculty serve as co-investigators or subcontract PIs directing research teams, conducting specialized analyses, and supervising student researchers under awards that anchor at peer institutions.

Federal grant footprint centers on National Science Foundation mission directorates (Computing and Communication Foundations, Engineering, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Education and Human Resources, Social Behavioral and Economic Sciences) and NIH institutes (NIMH, NIDA, NHBI, NIDDK), along with specialized programs including the Bureau of Justice Assistance STOP School Violence initiative, EPA Inflation Reduction Act environmental justice grantmaking, the IRS Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic program (CFDA 21.008), and NSF CyberCorps Scholarship for Service (CFDA 47.050). The university also received a $397,299 NSF MRI award for high-performance GPU cluster acquisition (CFDA 47.083, Integrative Activities) and a $150,000 STEM education grant for blockchain and cybersecurity learning module development.

Fordham's award footprint demonstrates a research institution model centered on graduate education, workforce development (cybersecurity professionals, quantum researchers, tax clinic students), and investigator-initiated basic research across neuroscience, materials chemistry, quantum computing, mathematics education, and social sciences. The institution does not compete for large DoD prime contracts or commercial GSA Schedule work; instead, it operates within an NIH and NSF ecosystem as a research university with specialized clinical and educational programs.