Roger Williams University

Roger Williams University, a private non-profit educational institution based in Bristol, Rhode Island, operates as a prime recipient of federal contracts and grants (81% of recent awards) and as a sub-recipient on collaborative research awards, delivering paralegal education, marine science research, and estuary management services to defense and civilian agencies without set-aside designations.

The university's federal footprint centers on three distinct capability areas. Paralegal education dominates contract volume: under a single-award Indefinite Delivery Contract with the Department of the Navy's Secretary of the Navy Judge Advocate General (valued at $1.944 million through July 2027), Roger Williams issues delivery orders ranging from $13,500 to $206,250 for online paralegal studies credits and legal education program courses supporting the Navy Legal Services Command's training of judge advocates and legal staff nationwide. Recent delivery orders total $111,750 (awarded August 2025, performance through December 2025), $154,500 (May 2025, completion August 2025), and $57,000 (December 2024, completion May 2025). The Naval Education and Training Command places additional orders across five separate IDCs for specialized training and education services. Beyond Navy work, the university provided event planning and logistical support ($22,302) to the Rhode Island Air National Guard for a Yellow Ribbon military event in March 2024.

Federal grant work spans marine science research, environmental restoration, and estuary management. The Environmental Protection Agency Region 1 funds the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program under the National Estuary Program (CFDA 66.456) through three cooperative agreements: a $2.2 million award (October 2025 through September 2028) supporting comprehensive estuary management, a $909,800 award (October 2026 through September 2031) for infrastructure implementation and restoration projects, and a $1.819 million award (October 2022 through September 2027) supporting pollution reduction and habitat restoration. The National Science Foundation provides $295,661 (Biological Sciences, CFDA 47.074, May 2025 through April 2028) for research on neurotoxic predation mechanisms in ctenophores, and $212,587 (Division of Ocean Sciences, CFDA 47.050, October 2025 through September 2028) for development of biohybrid jellyfish instrumented with oceanographic sensors. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration funds capacity building in shellfish nursery facilities, aquatic diagnostics, and food science laboratories ($1 million equivalent, September 2022 through August 2026). The Department of Education Office of Postsecondary Education awarded $1.694 million under the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (CFDA 84.116, June 2023 through May 2026) for environmental science and engineering laboratory development. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service provides equipment and biosecure space for aquatic animal diagnostic test development (June 2024 through May 2027). The National Endowment for the Humanities funded community-engaged public humanities curriculum development ($166,600, February 2023 through December 2025).

Customer concentration sits heavily with the Department of the Navy, which accounts for 55 of the 138 total awards (37 delivered by the JAG paralegal education IDC, 8 by Naval Education and Training Command, and additional orders through Naval Reserve Operational Support Centers). The Navy represents approximately 97% of the combined potential value across all awards when measuring dollars. The National Science Foundation (13 awards) and the National Institutes of Health National Institute of General Medical Sciences (11 awards) rank second and third by award count but carry substantially lower per-award values than Navy work. The EPA, NOAA, Department of Justice, and Department of Education round out the active customer base.

Sub-award activity (19% of total awards) concentrates in collaborative research with peer research institutions. Roger Williams appears as a sub-recipient under University of Rhode Island prime grants (Rhode Island IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence, NSF E-CORE RII Rhode Island Inclusive Network for Excellence in Science and Technology), California Institute of Technology collaborative oceanographic research (biohybrid propulsor hydrodynamics), Brown University underwater autonomy research, and University of Connecticut Sea Grant extension programming. The university also subcontracted to Thundermist Health Center for crisis intervention team evaluation research funded through federal grant channels.

Eight awards face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, representing recompete exposure across the Navy paralegal IDCs and select NSF and EPA cooperative agreements. Activity has grown unevenly over the past five years—11 awards in 2022, 10 in 2023, 17 in 2024, declining to 10 in 2025, with only 3 awards recorded through October 2026 in the source snapshot. The combined potential value across all awards ($16.9 million) contrasts with combined obligated dollars ($63.5 million), indicating that the source captures multi-year funding streams and long-term cooperative agreements rather than recent-year spending velocity.