Old Dominion University

Old Dominion University, a public research university in Norfolk, Virginia, operates as a prime recipient and contractor for federal agencies, delivering educational services—tuition support, training programs, and academic instruction—to the Department of the Navy and dozens of other federal agencies, alongside a substantial federal research grant portfolio funded through the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Department of Defense, and other agencies.

Old Dominion University is a state-controlled institution of higher learning with no SBA set-aside designations. The university competes on a full-and-open basis across both contract and grant vehicles. Its work is administrative-office-anchored in Norfolk, Virginia, with research and educational activities conducted at the Norfolk campus and subordinate locations including off-campus sites in Bethesda, Maryland and American Samoa.

The university's contract footprint centers on naval education delivery—tuition, fees, and training support for Naval Reserve Officers' Training Corps (NROTC) midshipmen, military personnel, and medical students. Recent representative contract awards include a $256,882 delivery order from the Bureau of Naval Personnel (March 2026) for spring 2026 retroactive tuition and fees for 24 NROTC midshipmen, a $268,906 delivery order for fall 2024 NROTC tuition and allowable fees (awarded July 2025), and a $218,916 delivery order from the Department of the Navy for tuition and fees with completion by May 2027 (awarded April 2026). The university also holds smaller orders—a $462 purchase order from Naval Supply Systems Command for job fair booth rental (January 2026) and a $1,945 cybersecurity principles training order from Navy Expeditionary Combat Command (September 2025). Across all prime and sub contract work, Old Dominion University does not pursue set-aside categories; all awards are full-and-open competitive or sole-source designations.

Old Dominion University anchors its contract vehicle position on a $147.05 million indefinite delivery contract (IDC) with the Department of the Navy for United States Naval Community College Partnerships, under which 97 task orders have been issued across multiple Navy sub-components. The university also holds a Basic Ordering Agreement with the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery extending through February 2035 for educational and training services, with BPA calls including a $11,278 call for training medical students (January 2026). These vehicles enable flexible, task-order-based delivery of education and training to naval and defense personnel.

The university's grant footprint is broad and research-intensive, spanning biomedical sciences, engineering, environmental restoration, and education. Top-dollar recent grants include a $4.636 million cooperative agreement from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (October 2025 through September 2029) for fisheries enhancement, coastal defense, and workforce development in American Samoa, including coral reef restoration, in-water coral nursery design, and hydrodynamic modeling. The National Institute of General Medical Sciences has funded multiple grants: an $880,000 project grant (August 2025 through April 2030) on deciphering RNA modifications in maternal mRNA clearance; an $881,898 grant (April 2026 through March 2028) on mechanisms of macrophage manipulation by pathogenic rickettsiae; and a $320,000 award (June 2026 through March 2030) on cell membrane response to electrical stress. The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research provided a $933,580 grant (June 2026 through May 2028) for immunomodulatory therapeutic approaches to improve oral cavity wound healing. The National Institute on Drug Abuse funded a $1.12 million project grant (July 2025 through May 2030) on HIV and cocaine-mediated lipid dysregulation in microglia. The Department of Defense awarded a $1 million project grant (April 2025 through April 2029) for investigations on submerged piezoelectric ocean wave energy convertors. The Department of Education's Office of Postsecondary Education has funded multiple awards including a $1.443 million FIPSE grant (January 2024 through December 2026) for enhancing undergraduate modeling and simulation education and a $530,990 award (October 2025 through September 2026) for experiential learning program development. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute provided $450,000 (September 2024 through August 2027) for research on disturbed sleep and atherosclerosis. The National Institutes of Health Office of the Director funded a $489,008 grant (September 2025 through September 2026) on endocannabinoid signaling in chemical threat agent-induced lung injury, with a sub-award to the Research Foundation For Mental Hygiene, Inc. for analytical expertise. The Department of Defense Office of the Secretary also funded a $465,027 Cyber Service Academy Scholarships award (August 2025 through August 2030). The Small Business Administration awarded $1 million for cybersecurity for small business pilot programming (August 2023 through August 2025) and $500,000 for congressional community project funding (August 2024 through July 2026).

Customer concentration is dominated by the Department of the Navy across both contract dollars and award volume. The Navy accounts for $147.4 million in potential value across 43 awards and drives the university's strategic positioning as a naval education and training partner. The source identifies five top customers by potential-value share: the Department of the Navy (43 awards, $147.4 million), the Navy's Naval Sea Systems Command (15 awards, $3 million), the Navy's Naval Education and Training Command (64 awards, $2.9 million), the Navy's Bureau of Naval Personnel (8 awards, $1.2 million), and the Navy's Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (102 awards, $486 thousand combined potential value). The top customers by award count coverage (53% of all awards) include the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, NASA, the Naval Education and Training Command, the Department of the Navy, and the Department of Education's Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services—reflecting a dual portfolio of Navy education delivery and civilian research and educational programming.

Recent activity has averaged 25 awards per year over the past five years (2022: 28; 2023: 19; 2024: 36; 2025: 29; 2026: 15 year-to-date), for a combined potential value of $162.8 million across all 590 awards (prime and sub combined). The combined dollars obligated across all awards total $342.4 million, exceeding the combined potential value ceiling by 210 percent—a signal that many awards are incremental task orders and modifications executed under standing vehicles at the Navy and other agencies. The university serves 69 distinct customer agencies, though concentration at the Navy remains dominant. Twenty-seven awards (combined potential value $219 thousand) complete in the next twenty-four months and face recompete exposure. The category concentration reflects the university's core identity: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (205 awards); Education/Training Tuition/Registration/Membership Fees (232 awards by PSC); and Space R&D and Defense R&D services (36 awards combined).

Old Dominion University Research Foundation (Odurf) serves as the fiscal and administrative agent for sponsored grant research and holds positions on several of the university's federal contract vehicles. The university acts as a sub-recipient on federal education grants flowing from the Commonwealth of Virginia State Board of Education (IDEA special education and VTSS personnel development funding), the University of Southern California (Alzheimer's Clinical Trials Consortium), the Johns Hopkins University (occupational health and safety education), and the University of Puerto Rico (innovation and entrepreneurship partnership). The university does not operate as a subcontractor on federal prime contracts; rather, it anchors the Navy relationship as a prime recipient and contractor.