Medstar Health Research Institute Inc.

Medstar Health Research Institute Inc. (doing business as Medstar Research Institute), a non-profit subsidiary of Medstar Health Inc. headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, delivers clinical research coordination, medical imaging and diagnostic support, biomedical research infrastructure, and data analytics services to federal health agencies as a prime contractor and grant recipient—competing full-and-open with no set-aside designations across a diverse NIH and HHS portfolio.

Medstar Research Institute operates as a hybrid prime and sub performer. Across recent awards, 53% are prime contracts and grants and 47% are sub-awards. The vendor competes predominantly without set-asides, reflecting its role as an established research partner to NIH institutes rather than a small business or minority-owned firm. SCI-reported invoicing totaled $8.8 million from FY2022 through FY2024 (prime records only), with government-paid hourly rates clustering around $122 per hour at the median, ranging from $87 to $183 per hour across the rate spectrum. The vendor maintains lean subcontracting: across SCI-reportable prime contracts, subs accounted for an average of 6% of total contractor hours, with eight named subcontractors in the dataset.

Customer concentration is heavily weighted toward NIH institutes. The top five funding agencies by award count or dollar value include the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (64 awards, $70.9 million combined potential value), the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (65 awards), the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (20 awards, $15.8 million), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (11 awards, $106.5 million), and the Health Resources and Services Administration (18 awards). HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration anchors 8 awards carrying $201.5 million in combined potential value—likely representing a large parent IDV or consolidated procurement. Together, the top five agencies account for 44% of awards and 66% of combined potential value, indicating pronounced concentration on NIH and HHS programs.

Representative prime contract work spans cardiovascular research support, clinical trial coordination, and biomedical field operations. A $5.4 million cost-reimbursement definitive contract from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (awarded September 2024, completing September 2029) funds 24/7 stroke clinical support services—advanced imaging, laboratory testing, radiological support, and nurse coordination—for the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke research efforts at a Primary or Comprehensive Stroke Center in Chillum, Maryland. Multiple delivery orders under a $362.5 thousand NHLBI IDC for cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging consumables (awarded January 2022, extending through January 2027) total under $50 thousand in immediate task orders; the vendor self-performed all reported hours with no subs. A $597.6 thousand NIAID delivery order (awarded May 2025, completing May 2028) supplies medical residents to support the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda under a $7.5 million IDC ceiling. The vendor also maintains recurring roles on the Strong Heart Study (SHS), a longitudinal cardiovascular epidemiology study among American Indian populations, delivering field center operations, data management, biorepository services, and lab assay work across multiple task areas and exam phases for NHLBI since at least 2022.

Federal grant work constitutes a material portion of Medstar Research Institute's portfolio. The vendor received a $2.7 million cooperative agreement from the National Cancer Institute (awarded July 2025, completing May 2027) under the Cancer Cause and Prevention Research program (CFDA 93.393) to develop and test implementation strategies for geriatric assessment adoption in community oncology settings. A $1.2 million project grant from the Defense Health Agency (awarded September 2024, completing October 2027) funds research on toxic products of combustion in burn and smoke inhalation injuries. The vendor acts as prime recipient on a $214.2 thousand HRSA Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education award (effective March 2026 through June 2029, CFDA 93.530) supporting primary care residency training at Community of Hope, a Federally Qualified Health Center in Washington, D.C., training two Family Medicine residents annually within the MedStar Health/Georgetown-Washington Hospital Center program. Grant work also includes sub-recipient roles under Georgetown University, Johns Hopkins, Columbia University, and other academic prime grantees, contributing subject matter expertise in health informatics, EHR data extraction and analysis, stroke trial recruitment and coordination, and research infrastructure support across dozens of NIH and CDC funded projects.

Vehicle position is concentrated on single-award and multi-award IDCs issued by NHLBI, NIAID, and NIDA. The vendor holds or has held indefinite delivery contracts for cardiovascular MRI consumables (NHLBI, $362.5 thousand ceiling, January 2022–January 2027), medical residents for the NIH Clinical Center (NIAID, $7.5 million ceiling, May 2025–May 2030), and specialized clinical support services for NINDS research (National Institute on Drug Abuse as issuing agent, $5.4 million definitive contract). Task orders against these vehicles carry modest ceilings (typically $50 thousand to $600 thousand per order) but reflect recurring, multi-year relationships. The vendor also participates in the Accelerating Change and Transformation in Organizations and Networks (ACT) III program through 7 task orders worth $26.5 million combined—a transnational research platform.

Activity trajectory shows growth in recent years. Awards per fiscal year increased from 28 in 2022 to 71 in 2024, then moderated to 58 in 2025 and 21 through early 2026 (partial year). The vendor faces modest near-term recompete exposure: 26 awards with ultimate completion dates within the next 24 months carry combined potential value of $5.4 million. SCI-reported FTE levels fluctuated—12.8 FTEs across prime and sub contracts in FY2022, declining to 8.4 FTEs in FY2023, then recovering to 10.1 FTEs in FY2024—suggesting variability in federal services contract staffing levels, though these figures represent only SCI-reportable service contracts and not the full delivery model across grants and task orders.

Teaming pattern reflects a prime-focused model with minimal subcontracting. On SCI-reportable prime contracts, subcontractors averaged 6% of total contractor hours. Named subcontractors in the available data include Lovelace Biomedical Research Institute, Life Technologies Corporation, and Illumina Inc., primarily supporting biorepository and laboratory assay work on Strong Heart Study field operations under prime contracts. In grant sub-recipient roles, the vendor contributes biostatistics, informatics, EHR data management, and research coordination expertise to academic primes (Georgetown University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Washington, Columbia University, University of Oklahoma) rather than bringing substantial sub-tiers of its own.

Corporate structure positions Medstar Research Institute as a child entity of Medstar Health Inc., a non-profit healthcare system anchoring the Baltimore-Washington corridor. The parent organization operates nine hospitals and the research institute as a unified enterprise, enabling the research subsidiary to leverage access to clinical sites, EHR infrastructure, and patient populations for multi-site trials and longitudinal cohorts. The source identifies MedStar National Rehabilitation Hospital and MedStar Washington Hospital Center as named clinical sites contributing to stroke, rehabilitation, and oncology research programs.

Background context from the award descriptions characterizes Medstar Research Institute as a specialized healthcare research organization focused on translational research, clinical outcomes, biomedical innovation, and health equity across cardiovascular, oncology, infectious disease, neurological, and rehabilitation medicine domains. The organization maintains certification as a Primary or Comprehensive Stroke Center and operates a CAP-accredited biorepository facility, positioning it as a clinical research site rather than a contract services vendor. Recent award growth reflects expanded engagement with NIH and HHS mission-driven research, particularly around health disparities, implementation science, and multi-site trial coordination in underserved and minority populations.