Massachusetts Eye And Ear Infirmary

Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, a Harvard Medical School-affiliated nonprofit hospital and research institution headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, acts as a federal grant recipient and prime contractor delivering ophthalmology and otolaryngology clinical services, surgical procedures, and biomedical research to the Department of Veterans Affairs, the National Institutes of Health, and the Department of Defense. As a tax-exempt corporate entity and child of Partners Healthcare System Incorporated, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary competes predominantly in full-and-open federal grant and contract solicitations without set-aside designation, holding no SBA certifications.

The institution's federal footprint is anchored in biomedical research and clinical service delivery. On the contract side, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary has received three recent definitive contracts from Veterans Integrated Service Network 1 (VISN 1) totaling approximately $1.3 million for ophthalmology physician services and ocular re-animation research, with the largest a $810,745 contract awarded in February 2026 for ophthalmology physician services through January 2031. On the grant side, the institution acts as a prime recipient across National Institutes of Health institutes and centers, including the National Eye Institute, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and National Institute on Aging, with recent awards supporting basic and translational research in hearing loss prevention, retinal diseases, vestibular function, cochlear implant optimization, and gene therapy development. Representative recent grants include $663,406 from the National Eye Institute for research on secondary cone degeneration in retinitis pigmentosa using AAV-based therapeutics, $655,214 from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders for high-frequency bone conduction measurements in hearing loss diagnosis, and $452,713 from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke for vasoactive intestinal peptide signaling mechanisms in cortical plasticity.

Customer concentration is heavily weighted to NIH research funding. The top five funding agencies account for 70% of recent awards by count, led by the National Eye Institute (77 awards), the National Institutes of Health broadly (76 awards), and the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (69 awards), followed by the Army Medical Command (29 awards, $163 thousand combined potential value) and VISN 1 (16 awards, $1.9 million combined potential value). The dollars-by-customer ranking differs: the NIH Office of the Director commands $2.8 million in combined potential value across seven awards, while VISN 1 accounts for $1.9 million across sixteen awards, reflecting the smaller average grant from clinical service contracts versus research awards.

Activity has been consistent, with 19 awards in 2022, 16 in 2023, 28 in 2024, 17 in 2025, and 13 in 2026 year-to-date. A recompete cliff of 37 awards (combined potential value $195 thousand) reaches completion in the next twenty-four months, representing primarily grant completions rather than vehicle-level recompetes. The institution's 382-award footprint reflects 88% prime awards and 12% sub-award work. In its subcontractor role, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary performs clinical and research support functions for prime recipients including the University of New Mexico (adenovirus keratitis research), Tufts College (olfactory receptor neuron regeneration), Boston Children's Hospital (dry eye clinical studies), Case Western Reserve University (noise-induced hearing loss evaluation), and the Schepens Eye Research Institute (glaucoma genetics and health disparities research).

Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary's capability portfolio centers on clinical ophthalmology and otolaryngology service delivery to veterans, biomedical research in vision and hearing sciences, surgical device and therapeutic development, and translational clinical trials. Primary research themes include inherited retinal diseases and gene therapy, hearing loss mechanisms and prevention, vestibular dysfunction and balance disorders, cochlear implant design and outcomes, and corneal disease and keratoplasty. The institution maintains one of the largest collections of human temporal bone specimens in the world, supporting NIDCD-funded research through its participation in the National Human Ear Resource Network. No parent contract vehicles, GWACs, or IDIQs appear in the source data; all awards are direct grant or contract actions from federal agencies. The institution competes on merit across federal research grant programs and VA clinical service contracts, with no set-aside or minority business certifications recorded.