Idaho State University

Idaho State University's Office for Research, operating as Finance and Administration, is a public research institution in Pocatello, Idaho that functions as a prime recipient of federal research grants, a prime contractor for specialized training and research services, and a subrecipient under federal grant programs across 127 distinct federal agencies. The institution does not compete under set-asides and operates entirely in unrestricted, full-and-open federal procurement and grant environments.

The university's federal footprint centers on research and education rather than traditional service contracting. As a grant recipient, Idaho State University receives funding across biomedical and life sciences research, including $2.875 million from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for an Industrial Cybersecurity Research and Training Laboratory focused on Cyber-Informed Engineering (awarded October 1, 2024, running through September 30, 2027), a $10.602 million Preschool Development Grants Birth Through Five award from the Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families (December 31, 2025) for statewide early care and education systems integration, and $892 thousand from the HHS Health Resources and Services Administration for the Idaho Frontiers of Street Medicine Project residency training program (July 1, 2026). Recent research grants span the National Science Foundation ($636 thousand for the Idaho Student Excellence in Education and Research graduate fellowship program; $745.287 thousand for a variable-pressure scanning electron microscope acquisition; $636 thousand for EPSCOR graduate fellowships), the National Institutes of Health and its subdivisions (multiple awards in cancer research, infectious disease, developmental biology, and brain imaging), and federal mission agencies including the Department of Energy, NASA, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Specialized contract work includes a $490.647 thousand firm fixed-price contract with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for development and delivery of NRC E-112 Motorized Valve Actuators training through September 29, 2030, and a $1.999 million cost-no-fee definitive contract with the Humphreys Engineer Center Support Activity for ESTCP Project RC24-8239, a fusion approach to geolocating natural resources (December 20, 2024 through December 19, 2029).

Customer concentration is dispersed across agencies with research and education missions. The National Science Foundation leads by award count (88 awards), followed by the Department of Energy (44 awards), the Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration (35 awards), the Department of Education Office of Postsecondary Education (27 awards), and NASA Shared Services Center (22 awards, $2.7 million combined potential value). These five agencies account for 27% of all awards but only 28% of combined potential value, indicating the university's broad engagement across multiple smaller grant programs rather than concentration in large dollar vehicles. The top five funding agencies by potential value—NASA, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, GSA, the Department of Interior Bureau of Reclamation, and the Department of Agriculture—together represent 28% of combined potential value of $19.5 million.

The institution holds a Basic Ordering Agreement (GS10B06875) with General Services Administration yielding 46 task orders valued at $946 thousand, and additional BOAs with the Department of Navy (GS10B06644, 37 task orders) and Veterans Affairs. Idaho State University also maintains a single-award Basic Ordering Agreement with the Department of Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery running through September 29, 2032 for tuition and fees delivery.

Activity has remained relatively steady over the past five years—46 awards in 2022, declining to 34 in 2023, then rising to 48 in 2024 and 40 in 2025, with 22 awards recorded through September 2026. Thirty-six awards face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months with combined potential value of $54 thousand, representing a modest recompete pipeline. The institution operates primarily as a prime recipient and contractor (89% of awards), with 11% of awards representing sub-recipient or subcontractor roles on grants anchored by other universities and agencies including Boise State University, the University of Idaho, the University of Washington, and state education boards.

The Service Contract Inventory dataset shows SCI-reportable invoicing of $420 thousand across fiscal years 2022–2025 from prime federal service contracts, with 0.7 FTEs in FY2022 and FY2023, declining to 0.1 FTEs in FY2024 and 0.6 FTEs in FY2025 (the latter including one named subcontractor record). Government-paid hourly rates on these service contracts ranged from a median of $131.63/hour to a 90th percentile of $325.64/hour, reflecting specialized professional and technical labor. The SCI dataset represents only federally reportable service contracts above the $150,000 threshold and excludes the bulk of the institution's federal research grant activity, federal facilities leasing (which dominates by award count under NAICS Lessors of Nonresidential Buildings), and tuition fee delivery contracts. Sub-engagement across prime service contracts averaged 0% of hours, indicating the university delivers contracted services internally rather than through named subcontractors on SCI-reportable work.

Idaho State University's federal strategy is fundamentally research-institutional rather than commercial: the institution participates in federal contracting primarily to support its research mission and educational programs, with federal grant funding anchoring capacity building in biomedical research, workforce development, and specialized training. The institution has deep partnerships with state agencies (Idaho Department of Education, Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, Idaho State Board of Education) as a sub-recipient channeling federal funds into K–12 education, early childhood development, and public health workforce programs across Idaho.