Georgia State University

Georgia State University's University Research Services Administration Division, a unit of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, operates as a prime recipient of federal grants and a modest federal contractor, delivering research services, technical assistance, and educational programming to federal agencies and state-level pass-through grantees. The university is a state government entity and accredited institution of higher learning with no set-aside designations.

The university's federal footprint splits roughly 79% prime awards and 21% sub-awards across 300 total awards (contracts, grants, and sub-awards combined) generating $28.6 million in combined potential value, though obligated dollars across all awards total $431.3 million — a 1,506% ratio that reflects the university's role as both direct recipient and fiscal agent on multi-year, high-dollar federal grants flowing through to sub-recipients and state agencies. Recent activity shows modest growth: eight awards in 2022 escalating to nineteen in 2025, with nine awards recorded year-to-date in 2026. Five awards face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months.

The university's customer base spans fifty-seven distinct federal agencies, but concentration is diffuse. The Department of Education's Office of Postsecondary Education leads by award count (36 awards) under education and workforce development programs; the Department of the Army follows (27 awards); and the General Services Administration's Public Buildings Service Central Office Office of Leasing places fourteen awards worth $5.9 million in combined potential value. The top five customer agencies account for only 31% of total awards, and the top five by potential value account for 22% — suggesting a portfolio weighted toward smaller, distributed projects rather than anchor contracts. The largest parent vehicle is a GSA Basic Ordering Agreement (GS04B42094) carrying ninety-six task orders worth $24.8 million combined potential value.

The university's primary contracting work centers on real estate and facilities leasing — 97 awards fall under NAICS 531311 (Lessors of Nonresidential Buildings), and thirty awards carry PSC code for Lease/Rental of Office Buildings. This reflects the university's role as a landlord or partner in facility-sharing arrangements with federal agencies. Beyond real estate, the university delivers research services in social sciences and humanities (17 awards), operates as an accredited educational institution delivering tuition-based programs (16 awards under Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools NAICS), and conducts testing and laboratory services (8 awards). Representative prime contracts include a $10,000 purchase order from the Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Integrated Service Network 4 for brain scan services (August 2023), awarded through the University Research Services Administration Division with performance in Decatur, Georgia; and a $24,960 purchase order from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute for evaluation of a compound for long COVID in a transgenic mouse model (September 2022).

The university's grant footprint is substantial and heavily weighted toward Department of Education and Department of Health and Human Services programs. Recent prime grant awards include a $4.2 million project grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration's Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (CFDA 93.912) announced September 1, 2026, funding the Georgia Health Policy Center Rural Community Health Technical Assistance Program through August 31, 2029. The program delivers technical assistance to rural community-based organizations, providers, tribal organizations, and networks across the United States, providing one-on-one assistance, webinars, learning collaboratives, peer-to-peer learning, site visits, and resource development to strengthen capacity in health care access, service delivery, and health outcomes. A second major prime grant is the $7.6 million Department of Education Office of Postsecondary Education project grant for "TEACH ME: Technology Enhanced Academic Communication to Help in Math and English" (CFDA 84.116, January 2024 through December 2027), in which Georgia State collaborates with Brown University ($1.5 million sub-award) and Morgan State University ($750 thousand sub-award) to implement and evaluate chatbot technology in postsecondary math and English instruction. The university also holds four Upward Bound program grants from the Department of Education Office of Postsecondary Education awarded in 2022, running through August 31, 2027, serving multiple DeKalb County and metro-Atlanta regions.

Sub-award activity is concentrated in grant pass-throughs routed through state agencies. The university serves as sub-recipient to the Georgia Department of Human Services, Georgia Department of Public Health, Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, and other Georgia state entities on grants addressing substance abuse prevention, mental health, adverse childhood experiences surveillance and prevention, elder abuse interventions, youth after-school services, and nutrition and wellness programming. Notable recent sub-grant work includes technical assistance roles under the State of Georgia Department of Public Health on pathogen genomics and bioinformatics capacity building (September 2025), adverse childhood experiences surveillance infrastructure (September 2025), and comprehensive suicide prevention targeting disproportionately affected populations including military and emergency service personnel in Georgia (September 2025). The university also sub-recipients on federal grants flowing through state criminal justice coordinating councils (Project Safe Neighborhoods, statewide hotline, victim services), university research consortia (American Institutes for Research prevention evaluation work, Arizona State University urban ecology research), and federal research programs (NASA space grant outreach via Georgia Tech Research Corp, NSF early childhood research via American Institutes for Research). A single federal contract sub-award surfaces: Georgia State provides research design, methodological, data collection, and analysis expertise to American Institutes for Research (March 2025) on integrated prevention advisory group capacity building.

The university's NAICS and PSC footprint underscores its dual role as landlord and researcher. Beyond the dominant real estate category, top research codes include R&D in Social Sciences and Humanities, R&D in Space Science and Applications, and Reference Laboratory Testing, reflecting institutional capability in evaluation science, public health research, and academic-clinical partnerships. The university does not compete on defense prime contracts and does not hold GWAC or full-and-open competitive vehicle seats; its federal footprint is anchored to agency-specific IDIQs, facility leasing agreements, and federal grant programs flowing through the Department of Education and health and human services agencies.