Public Health Institute

Public Health Institute, a tax-exempt nonprofit organization headquartered in Oakland, California, operates as both a prime recipient of federal grants and contracts and a subrecipient under larger federal grant programs, with a portfolio spanning epidemiological research, disease surveillance, workforce development, and public health program implementation across civilian health agencies. PHI competes predominantly full-and-open, with no SBA set-aside designations across its federal footprint.

PHI's customer concentration is heavily weighted toward the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The top funding agencies account for 47% of awards by count: the National Cancer Institute (46 awards, $1.14 billion combined potential value) anchors the portfolio by an order of magnitude, followed by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (27 awards), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (19 awards), CDC Pittsburgh (23 awards, $4.6 million combined potential value), and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (7 awards, $2.5 million combined potential value). The ranking by potential value tracks closely with count, underscoring NCI's dominance and the research-grant profile of PHI's work. Recent contract examples include a $1.621 million firm fixed-price definitive contract from CDC Pittsburgh (awarded September 2023, completing September 2027) for development and evaluation of a train-the-trainer program supporting respiratory protective device use; a $1.295 million contract from CDC Pittsburgh (awarded September 2023, completing September 2024) for a Regional Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response workplan for HHS Region 9; and a $667,124 severable purchase order from NICHD (awarded September 2023, completing March 2027) for multipurpose prevention technology database access and maintenance. Recent grant examples include a $600,000 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration award (September 2026 through September 2031, CFDA 93.492) for the Youth Prevention Partnership Project serving young adults with substance use risk in Alameda and San Francisco Counties; a $1.084 million National Institute on Drug Abuse research award (June 2026 through March 2031, CFDA 93.279) for a prospective cohort study on cannabis use in sober living houses; and a $1.291 million National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism award (September 2025 through August 2030, CFDA 93.273) examining alcohol-related mortality and policy interventions.

PHI places prime work under the HHSN261201300014I indefinite delivery contract (9 task orders, $15.8 million combined potential value) and on the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results vehicle (4 task orders, $44.7 million combined potential value). Activity has grown substantially — 17 awards in 2022 to 47 in 2024 — though 2025 and 2026 show a decline to 22 and 15 awards respectively. Nineteen awards (combined potential value $46.4 million) complete within the next twenty-four months, creating near-term recompete exposure.

PHI operates primarily as a prime contractor and grant recipient (68% of awards), with 32% of work flowing through subrecipient relationships. Across SCI-reportable federal service contracts, PHI invoiced $18 million over FY2022–FY2025 (FY2024 peak of $5.4 million across 29.5 FTEs), with government-paid median hourly rates around $81.61/hr and senior labor pricing through $138.92/hr. SCI data show minimal subcontractor engagement across prime contracts. PHI subcontracts with prime grantees including Research Triangle Institute on alcohol licensing studies, the California Department of Health Care Services on state opioid response initiatives, Kaiser Foundation Hospitals on cannabis policy and health outcomes research, Columbia University on cancer epidemiology, and Children's Hospital Boston on childhood anxiety biomarkers. The vendor acts as a feeder for cancer surveillance and public health research networks; it holds a formal role as the Children's Oncology Group Coordinating Center, with subawards from the COG Research Foundation and other prime grantees for operational and staff support.

PHI's capability portfolio centers on epidemiological research, disease surveillance infrastructure, program implementation, and workforce capacity building in substance use prevention, environmental health, cancer research, and maternal and child health. The organization operates subsidiary programs including the Health Intervention Projects for Underserved Populations (HIPUP), the Prevention Policy Group, Tracking California (environmental health surveillance), the Cancer Registry of Greater California, Roots of Change (food systems), and CivicSpark and AmeriCorps initiatives. Work is performed in Oakland, California, with subordinate sites and partnerships across California, the western United States, and selected national initiatives.