California State University Long Beach Research Foundation

California State University Long Beach Research Foundation is a nonprofit research entity affiliated with California State University, Long Beach that acts as prime recipient for federal research grants and as a subrecipient on select grants, competing across full-and-open federal funding vehicles with no set-aside designations. The Foundation is designated a minority-serving and Hispanic-serving institution and has been registered in SAM.gov since 2001, managing federal research and educational initiatives across sciences, engineering, and workforce development.

The Foundation's grant footprint spans scientific research and student support across federal civilian agencies. Recent prime grants include a $4.543 million Economic Development Administration award (CFDA 11.307) to procure advanced manufacturing and biomedical equipment for the Los Angeles County region; a $1.5 million NSF project on trustworthy and resilient multi-agent system coordination (CFDA 47.070); a $500 thousand NSF project on geoarchaeology and underrepresented students in field methods (CFDA 47.075); and a $415 thousand NSF project on evolutionary demography of ocean warming and coastal fish species adaptation (CFDA 47.074). The Foundation also holds approximately 48 Department of Education grants supporting student success and workforce pipelines, including $272 thousand for TRIO Student Support Services programs, $237 thousand for special education personnel development (CFDA 84.325), and multiple Upward Bound and Upward Bound Math/Science grants sustaining K–16 pathways for underserved populations.

Customer concentration sits heavily with research funders. The National Science Foundation leads by award volume with 81 grants across STEM research, education, and infrastructure programs; the Department of Education Office of Postsecondary Education accounts for 48 student-support and workforce-development awards. The National Institutes of Health (across NIGMS and other institutes) funds 55 awards in biomedical, health services, and behavioral research. The Department of the Navy Office of Naval Research anchors the dollar value with 10 awards worth $62.5 million combined potential value, reflecting materials science, propellant chemistry, and coastal engineering work. Total combined potential value across all 496 awards (prime and sub) is $82.4 million, though obligated dollars total $413.7 million, indicating substantial invoiced activity in completed and ongoing work. Forty-one awards face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, representing $419 thousand in recompete exposure.

The Foundation subcontracts to prime grantees on select programs. Recent sub-awards include work as part of a University of Tennessee transportation center (contributing $146 thousand to total sub value), oceanographic research as part of UC San Diego's white shark acoustic telemetry network (subaward value $296 thousand), and participation in a University of California-led training program on hydro-geophysics for subsurface contamination (Rutgers prime). These represent early-career and collaborative research extensions rather than a primary business line; 92% of the Foundation's awards are primes.

The Foundation characterizes itself as a research administration entity supporting California State University, Long Beach faculty in managing federal grants across life sciences, engineering, environmental sciences, mathematics, and education. Work is performed in Long Beach, California with interdisciplinary participation across the university's colleges. The Foundation leverages its status as an R2-classified research university with Carnegie designation and historical success integrating undergraduate and graduate research training into educational programs. Recent activity shows modest but steady volume — 44 awards in 2024, 34 in 2022 — with NSF and NIH as the dominant funding streams. The Foundation competes in full-and-open federal research markets without 8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB, or other set-aside designations, positioning itself as a capacity provider for university-based research and educational missions rather than a federal contractor in the traditional sense.