Research Triangle Institute

Research Triangle Institute, doing business as RTI International, a nonprofit research organization headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, delivers research, evaluation, data collection, technical assistance, and program implementation services across federal health, environmental, education, justice, international development, and defense domains as a prime contractor on full-and-open federal awards without pursuing set-aside categories. RTI operates at massive scale with 8,265 prime awards across 326 customer agencies and a combined potential value of $129.23 billion, anchored by ten major IDIQs and BPAs including the $151 billion Missile Defense Agency SHIELD contract, a $136.6 million National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Evaluation and Testing Services vehicle, a $90 million EPA STREAMS V scientific and technical research IDIQ, and a $70 million FDA Quick Turnaround Social Science Research Services BPA. The organization competes exclusively full-and-open, with no set-aside designations across its footprint.

RTI's concrete capability portfolio spans epidemiological survey design and implementation, program evaluation and impact assessment, biomedical and pharmaceutical research support, environmental regulatory analysis and compliance, health services research and analytics, and technical assistance for federal program execution. Representative prime work includes a $39.6 million delivery order from the Institute of Education Sciences for evaluation of the next cycle of Regional Educational Laboratory and Comprehensive Center programs through March 2031; a $54.3 million definitive contract from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality for the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Medical Provider Component through June 2030; a $33.96 million Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services delivery order for KCC ACO reach and program analysis under the RMADA 2 IDIQ through September 2030; a $33.18 million National Institute of Justice delivery order for the NIJ-NAMUS program through September 2031; and a $25 million USAID cooperative agreement to support agricultural development in Ethiopia under the Food for Progress program through September 2030. Environmental work anchors a second major capability stream: a $9 million EPA Metals, Minerals, and Energy Sectors Regulatory Support Services BPA call for oil and natural gas sector support through June 2029, a $8.3 million EPA STREAMS V delivery order for technical assistance to the Office of Atmospheric Sciences through July 2030, a $21.3 million EPA Marine Protection Research and Sanctuaries Act technical support BPA call through January 2028, and a $19.99 million EPA delivery order for emissions reporting compliance and regulatory analysis through November 2030. Federal grant work spans health research and implementation science: a $3.19 million National Institute on Drug Abuse grant for peer-led court navigation for substance use disorder treatment linkage through May 2030; a $2.56 million NIDA grant for multisite evaluation of Oregon's deflection programs through May 2030; a $1.76 million National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism grant for small molecule RXFP3 modulators for alcohol use disorder through June 2030; and a $1.55 million NIMH grant for hierarchical factorial cluster-randomized controlled trial on stigma reduction for women living with HIV through February 2031. RTI also serves as a grantmaker under two bifurcated Inflation Reduction Act awards totaling $120 million ($25 million initial plus $95 million subsequent) for the Environmental Justice and Climate Justice Block Grant Program, distributing subgrants across EPA regions 4-7.

Customer concentration is broad but skewed toward federal health and environmental agencies. The top five funding agencies by award count—Environmental Protection Agency (1,375 awards, $9.2 million potential value), CDC Pittsburgh (395 awards, $4.01 billion), CDC Office of Acquisition Services (338 awards, $1.86 billion), the Army (329 awards, $26.2 million), and FDA (315 awards, $933.8 million)—account for 32 percent of awards. By potential value, the top five diverge: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services leads with 181 awards and $13.91 billion combined potential value; EPA Office of Air and Radiation follows with 303 awards and $7.07 billion; USAID anchors international development with 194 awards and $4.46 billion; CDC Pittsburgh contributes 395 awards and $4.01 billion; and CDC Office of Acquisition Services adds 338 awards and $1.86 billion. This split reflects RTI's dual role as both a prime contractor executing large federal research and evaluation programs and a service provider under standing vehicles and schedules. RTI's award trajectory shows an uptick from 2022 through 2024 (206 to 261 awards annually) followed by a decline in 2025–2026 (140 and 105 awards annually), likely reflecting the lag between award date and task order issuance on large IDIQs and the cyclical nature of major survey and evaluation contract recompetes. Within the next twenty-four months, 229 awards with combined potential value of $982.2 million reach ultimate completion, representing significant recompete exposure across health, environmental, and education programs.

RTI's vehicle footprint positions it as a significant prime across government-wide and agency-specific IDIQs and BPAs. Major vehicles include the MOBIS (Mission Oriented Business Integrated Services) GWAC, where RTI holds 499 task orders worth $1.17 billion in combined potential value, reflecting deep engagement across Defense, civilian agencies, and international development; the GSA Multiple Award Schedule, where RTI executes 431 task orders valued at $9.91 billion, anchoring work across HHS (CMS, CDC, AHRQ, FDA), EPA, and other civilian agencies; STREAMS V with EPA, supporting 90 task orders with $20.7 million combined value for environmental research and technical support; RMADA 2 with CMS, supporting health services research and analytics; the $151 billion SHIELD IDIQ with the Missile Defense Agency, representing RTI's entry into large-scale defense research infrastructure; and numerous smaller single-award IDIQs including the National Cancer Institute Biomedical Computing Services contract ($147 million), the NIAID Evaluation and Testing Services vehicle ($136.6 million), the EPA Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program BPA ($44 million), and the EPA Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention High-Throughput Toxicokinetics IDIQ ($5.5 million).

On federal services contracts captured in the Service Contract Inventory—which covers prime service contracts above the $150,000 reporting threshold and excludes goods, products, and non-federal revenue—RTI reported $1.54 billion in invoiced revenue across FY2022–FY2025. Annual invoicing peaked in FY2024 at $431.1 million across 960 FTEs, then declined to $373.6 million across 960 FTEs in FY2025, reflecting post-pandemic staffing adjustments and contract timing. Government-paid hourly rates on SCI-reportable work span a broad spectrum, from a 10th percentile of $86.75/hr for entry-level survey and support roles to a median of $191.39/hr across the contractor workforce to a 90th percentile of $732.98/hr for senior research and advisory positions, consistent with a portfolio anchored in research, evaluation, and technical assistance rather than operational or IT-intensive services. RTI's GSA Schedule labor portfolio includes 47 active categories spanning interviewer roles at $58.73/hr, project specialists at $125.65/hr, senior analytics professionals at $292.17/hr, and senior advisors at $517.47/hr, with education requirements ranging from high school through doctorate and no security clearances offered. Across SCI-reportable prime contracts, subcontractors perform approximately 5 percent of total contractor hours, indicating that RTI primarily builds its own delivery teams internally rather than relying on subcontractor engagement. The vendor has reported 333 distinct subcontractors across its prime contract portfolio, suggesting selective use of specialized subs for areas such as field operations, regional expertise, and technical specialization rather than systemic subcontracting dependency.

RTI's corporate structure includes four named subsidiaries: Research Triangle Institute International, LLC, a nonprofit; International Resources Group LTD, a for-profit entity supporting international development work; Research Triangle Institute Global India Private LIMITED, a for-profit subsidiary; and Masimax Resources, Inc. These entities enable RTI to deliver services across domestic and international markets and manage distinct lines of business without consolidating all operations into the parent nonprofit entity.

As of October 2026, RTI operates as a primary recipient on federal grants across health (NIH components, CDC, FDA, AHRQ), international development (USAID), justice (NIJ, Bureau of Justice Statistics), environmental (EPA), energy (ARPA-E), and other federal mission areas, with recent awards totaling over $40 million annually. The organization has extensive experience as a sub-recipient and subcontractor, with named partners including academic institutions (Duke University, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Johns Hopkins University, University of Washington), nonprofit organizations (Chestnut Health Systems, Heluna Health, Safe States Alliance), international development implementers (Dimagi Inc., RPX Consulting Group), and federal contractors (Westat Inc., Social & Scientific Systems Inc., Advanced Resources International, Enverus Inc., ABT Global LLC). RTI's teaming approach reflects its positioning as both a prime integrator and a technical specialist sub to larger contractors on select awards.