Northwestern University
Evanston, IL Sponsored Research
- UEI
- KG76WYENL5K1
- CAGE
- 01725
- Primary NAICS
- 611310 Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools
- SAM.gov registration
- Active through
Company facts
- FY2025 rankings
- Self-certified in SAM.gov
- Entity structure
- Other
- Other NAICS codes in SAM.gov
-
- 541713 Research and Development in Nanotechnology
- 541714 Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology)
- 541715 Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology)
- 541720 Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities
- Corporate family
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- Evanston, IL EXZVPWZBLUE8
- CMMLW8CUBNS1
- Evanston, IL Y1K2PVLEB525
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- SAM.gov registration date
- Physical address
- Rebecca Crown Center, 633 Clark St, Evanston, IL 60208, USA
- Website
- northwestern.edu
- Founded
- 1851
- Employees
- 1K-5K
- Estimated annual revenue
- $1B-$10B
- Industry
-
- Consumer Discretionary
- Diversified Consumer Services
- Education Services
- Education
- SIC code
- 82 Educational Services
- Profiles
Registration and certifications come from SAM.gov and the SBA; company details from public web sources. Updated .
Contract obligations by fiscal year
| Fiscal year | Obligated |
|---|---|
| FY2027 To date | $493,275 |
| FY2026 | $7,046,715 |
| FY2025 | $6,647,088 |
| FY2024 | $6,865,777 |
| FY2023 | $9,612,990 |
Top agencies by obligations
| Rank | Agency | Obligated, FY2026–FY2027 | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Department of Health and Human Services | $5,002,880 | |
| 2 | Department of the Navy | $1,605,939 | |
| 3 | Department of the Army | $882,683 | |
| 4 | Department of Veterans Affairs | $38,348 | |
| 5 | Department of the Interior | $10,140 |
Contract vehicles
No active vehicles.
1 expired vehicle
Contract awards
Latest 5 listed here. See the rest on GovTribe.
Contract subawards
| Prime contractor | Prime award | Amount | Awarded |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brookhaven Science Associates LLC | DESC0012704 | $188,500 | |
| Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation | W911NF24C0002 | $161,460 | |
| University Of Pittsburgh - Of The Commonwealth System Of Higher Education | W81XWH18F0426 | $453,668 | |
| The Boeing Company | W912HQ22C0099 | $70,000 | |
| George Washington University (The) | 693JJ324C000004 | $85,000 |
Latest 5 listed here. See the rest on GovTribe.
Grant awards
Latest 5 listed here. See the rest on GovTribe.
Grant subawards
| Prime recipient | Prime award | Amount | Awarded |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Johns Hopkins University | UH3AR077360 | $927,395 | |
| The Johns Hopkins University | HT94252410808 | $166,656 | |
| The Johns Hopkins University | U19AI188551 | $126,204 | |
| The Johns Hopkins University | UM1AI182034 | $79,656 | |
| Ikaika Therapeutics Inc. | R44AR087317 | $393,022 |
Latest 5 listed here. See the rest on GovTribe.
Similar vendors
| Vendor | Location | Primary NAICS |
|---|---|---|
| Office Of Sponsored Research | Chapel Hill, NC | 611310 Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools |
| U S C | Los Angeles, CA | 611310 Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools |
| The Board Of Trustees Of The University Of Illinois | Urbana, IL | 611310 Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools |
| Ohio University | Athens, OH | 611310 Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools |
| University Of Washington | Seattle, WA | 611310 Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools |
About the company
Northwestern University's Sponsored Research Division, a non-profit private research institution headquartered in Evanston, Illinois, operates as a prime federal award recipient and subcontractor delivering basic and applied research services, graduate education, and specialized research infrastructure to federal agencies across health, science, and defense portfolios. The university operates as a direct prime contractor and grant recipient rather than as a service subcontractor; it competes without set-aside designations in full-and-open federal procurements.
Northwestern's federal award footprint is dominated by research grants from the National Institutes of Health, which account for 41% of recent awards by count. The top customer agencies by combined potential value are the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute ($135.9 million across 408 awards), National Cancer Institute ($122.9 million across 382 awards), and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases ($118.8 million across 317 awards). This concentration reflects NIH's centrality to Northwestern's federal research mission: the three top agencies account for 77% of combined potential value across all 5,626 awards in the source data. Beyond NIH, Northwestern holds a single-award indefinite delivery contract with the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute valued at $55.5 million through December 2034, serving as the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) Field Center. Recent representative awards include NIH grants for electrochemical biosensor development for heart failure monitoring ($251,336 from NHLBI, September 2025), phase-field materials modeling workshops ($200,000 from NIST, January 2027), and AI-driven protein engineering through a $4.411 million NSF cooperative agreement for the DREAM Cloud Lab (August 2026). The university also holds task order relationships under naval education contracts for NROTC tuition reimbursement and research service contracts with the Department of Defense.
Activity has grown substantially but recently decelerated: awards per year increased from 302 in 2023 to a peak of 520 in 2024, then declined to 380 in 2026 and 13 in 2027 (a partial-year artifact given the source date). Combined potential value across all awards totals $619.3 million, though the reported obligated dollars ($9.34 billion) exceed this figure, a signal that the dataset captures multi-year incremental funding and renewals of standing agreements. Northwestern faces a recompete cliff: 599 awards carrying combined potential value of $33.6 million reach ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months.
Northwestern's federal work is predominantly sponsored research conducted by faculty and graduate students rather than contracted service delivery. SCI-reportable invoiced revenue (service contracts above the $150,000 threshold) totaled $25.5 million across FY2022–FY2025, with peak activity in FY2022 ($9.6 million, 44 FTEs). Government-paid hourly rates on SCI-reportable prime contracts ranged from $34.99/hr at the 10th percentile to $175.10/hr at the 90th percentile (median $105.44/hr), consistent with academic labor pricing. Across SCI-reportable prime contracts, subcontractors performed approximately 18% of total contractor hours on average, with 80 named subcontractors identified, indicating that Northwestern typically builds its own research teams but engages specialized subs for component tasks. As a sub-recipient, Northwestern appears on federal research grants with prime recipients including Johns Hopkins University, Harvard Medical School, Penn, Stanford, Duke, Emory, and others, providing clinical recruitment, data management, biostatistical analysis, and specialized laboratory work.
Northwestern's Sponsored Research Division operates three named subsidiaries: The Family Institute, Northwestern University proper, and a second Northwestern University entity, though the corporate structure source data does not clarify functional distinctions among these entities. The university has no SBA designations and competes in full-and-open federal procurements. Its federal business is research-intensive, driven by faculty expertise in biomedical sciences, engineering, and physical sciences, with award values reflecting grant mechanisms (project grants, cooperative agreements) rather than fixed-price service contracts. The institution's federal customer base spans 182 distinct agencies, but the NIH portfolio dominates both by count and dollar value, reflecting Northwestern's position as a top-tier research university with extensive clinical and laboratory infrastructure.
Quick answers
Is Northwestern University registered in SAM.gov?
Yes. Northwestern University's SAM.gov registration is active through January 7, 2027.
Which contract vehicles does Northwestern University hold?
Northwestern University holds a place on 1 federal contract vehicle: Cancer Prevention Agent Development Program 2012-2017.
How much has Northwestern University received in federal contracts?
Federal contracts obligated $6,647,088 to Northwestern University in fiscal year 2025 and $30,665,844 in fiscal years 2023 through 2027.
How does Northwestern University rank among federal contractors?
Northwestern University ranked #25 in PSC AN11, #44 in PSC U005 and #77 in NAICS 541714 in FY2025.
What is Northwestern University's most recent federal award?
Northwestern University's most recent federal grant award is Electrochemical biosensors for continuous monitoring of inflammation in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (F30HL180059), from National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NIH), on February 28, 2027.
On GovTribe
See Northwestern University's full federal record
- Federal contract awards
- IDV awards
- Contract vehicles
- Federal grant awards
- Subcontracting relationships
- Funding analysis by agency, NAICS and set-aside
- Similar vendors