San Jose State University Research Foundation

San Jose State University Research Foundation, doing business as San Jose State University, operates as a nonprofit research entity and prime recipient of federal grants spanning scientific research, education, infrastructure, and workforce development across 114 distinct federal agencies. The Foundation competes without set-aside designation in open federal funding, securing awards predominantly through competitive merit-based selection from civilian research agencies.

The Foundation's capability portfolio centers on federally-funded research execution across engineering, environmental science, atmospheric science, oceanography, computer science, biomedical research, and education. Recent representative work includes a $20.7 million Phase 2 cooperative agreement from NASA for advanced aerospace research on future vertical lift technologies covering flight control systems, autonomous rotorcraft development, and human-systems interface design (award dated September 5, 2023, completing September 4, 2028); a $16.3 million NOAA contract for satellite ocean color system vicarious calibration and Marine Optical Buoy operations in Honolulu with technology refresh (award exercising Option Year 1 in August 2025, extending through July 2030); and a $11 million five-year Department of Education project titled "Science Roots: Growing Student Futures Through GenAI Enhanced Project-Based Learning Using Green Ninja" to develop and scale AI-enhanced curriculum for K-12 STEM education (January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2029).

Customer concentration reflects the Foundation's research-centric mission. NASA Shared Services Center leads by both award volume (102 awards) and dollar magnitude ($346.7 million combined potential value), accounting for a dominant share of the active portfolio. NSF places 186 awards across disciplines, followed by NOAA (74 awards, $7.8 million combined potential value), the Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation (69 awards, $228 thousand combined potential value), and NIH's National Institute of General Medical Sciences (33 awards). Combined, these top five agencies cover 43 percent of all awards by count but dominate the dollar distribution — NASA alone represents roughly 72 percent of combined potential value across all 1,086 awards.

The Foundation holds task-order authority on NASA cooperative agreement vehicles and NOAA grant frameworks. Primary vehicles include a BPA under NASA (INR09PA20119) with 64 task orders and $220 thousand combined potential value, and a second BPA (INR04PB202021) with 52 task orders and nominal combined value.

Recent activity shows growth through 2024 (88 awards) followed by a decline in 2025 and 2026 (52 and 34 awards respectively), likely reflecting the lag between award date and completion. A recompete cliff of significant magnitude approaches: 70 awards with ultimate completion dates in the next twenty-four months carry $119.5 million in combined potential value, representing substantial near-term renewal opportunity and near-term revenue risk.

The Foundation operates as a prime recipient in 90 percent of awards (982 of 1,086) and as a named subrecipient in 10 percent (104 awards). Service Contract Inventory data covering FY2022–FY2024 shows SCI-reportable federal services invoicing of $526 thousand across three years (FY2022: $156 thousand, FY2023: $181 thousand, FY2024: $189 thousand), with estimated federal services workforce of approximately 0.4–0.9 FTEs annually on captured service contracts. On SCI-reportable prime contracts, government-paid rates averaged $194.15 per hour (median), spanning a range from roughly $170/hr at the 10th percentile to $317/hr at the 90th percentile. The Foundation does not routinely engage subcontractors on its service contracts; sub-hours share is negligible.

The Foundation's sub-award footprint includes partnerships with peer research institutions. Named sub-recipients on recent grants span Worcester Polytechnic Institute (administrative support for the Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center), UC Davis (bilingual education research), UC Irvine (antimicrobial resistance in California dairy operations), Bay Area Environmental Research Institute (ECCO ocean state estimates, wildfire-atmosphere coupling), Cornell University (machine learning pedagogy), Colorado State University (fire forecasting system WRFx development), and other CSU and UC entities conducting collaborative research.

As a nonprofit tax-exempt research arm of San Jose State University, a minority-serving institution and Hispanic-serving institution, the Foundation leverages the university's designation to support federal priorities in broadening STEM participation among underrepresented populations. The Foundation's 1,086-award portfolio spans FY1987 baseline through October 2026, with annual award volume ranging from low double digits in early years to peaks of 88 awards in 2024, illustrating growth and institutional maturation in federal research capture. The combined obligated dollars ($1.08 billion) exceed combined potential value (ceiling values, $483.4 million) at 223 percent, reflecting the Foundation's track record of executing multi-year cooperative agreements and grants with incremental option-year funding that drives actual spend above initial award ceilings.