Savannah State University

Savannah State University, a historically Black college and university (HBCU) located in Savannah, Georgia, operates as a prime recipient of federal grants and as a service provider under federal contracts, with 93% of its 184 recent awards operating as prime and 7% as sub-awards. The university is a state-controlled institution of higher learning within the University System of Georgia, subject to governance by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. SSU receives no set-aside designations across its federal footprint; all awards are full-and-open or formula-based educational funding.

SSU's federal engagement centers on four concrete capability areas: naval officer education funding, STEM research and education development, student support and workforce preparation services, and environmental and marine sciences research. On the contract side, SSU delivers NROTC (Naval Reserve Officers' Training Corps) tuition and allowance support through recurring delivery orders from the Bureau of Naval Personnel, with recent awards including $42,848 for Fall 2025 NROTC midshipmen tuition and allowable fees (September 2025), $30,648 for Spring 2025 NROTC midshipmen tuition and allowances (February 2025), and $18,496 for educational service agreements supporting NROTC scholarship students (October 2024). SSU also conducts research and development under contract with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Engineer Research and Development Center, including a $67,509 purchase order for geotechnical and structures laboratory research (July 2023, extended through December 2024).

Grant work dominates SSU's federal portfolio by volume and dollar magnitude. Recent prime grants include a $3.88 million four-year Project Grant from the Office of Postsecondary Education under the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (CFDA 84.116) for an "AI Teaching & Learning Collaborative" transforming postsecondary instruction through artificial intelligence integration (January 2026–December 2029); a $1.575 million award from the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education under the American History and Civics Education program (CFDA 84.422) for the "Voices of a Republic" civics education initiative (October 2025–September 2026); and a $1.038 million excellence-in-research grant from the National Science Foundation Office of Integrative Activities (CFDA 47.083) characterizing microplastics distribution in the Georgia Bight region (July 2023–June 2026). Additional NSF research grants total $399,999 for an AI Research Center for Preserving the Environment and $299,828 for plant transmembrane permeability research affecting food security. SSU also holds formula-based HBCU institutional aid from the Office of Postsecondary Education (Title III-Part F, $945,122 for October 2025–September 2026), TRIO Student Support Services funding ($361,922 for academic year 2025–2026), and workforce development grants including $616,000 from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education for cybersecurity education access (June 2023–May 2026) and multiple Federal Highway Administration DDETFP Local Competition Fellowship awards.

Customer concentration reflects SSU's educational mission and naval partnership footprint. The top five funding agencies account for 53% of awards by count, led by the Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration (26 awards), the National Science Foundation (22 awards), the Department of Education Office of Postsecondary Education (21 awards), the Department of the Navy Naval Education and Training Command (15 awards, $3.9 million potential value), and the Department of the Navy Bureau of Naval Personnel (14 awards, $717 thousand potential value). By potential value, the Navy's Naval Education and Training Command and Bureau of Naval Personnel dominate, accounting for $4.6 million of SSU's $6.2 million combined potential value across all awards. A significant disconnect exists between volume and dollars: the Federal Highway Administration places the most awards but carries minimal potential value, while Navy tuition contracts carry the dollar share despite smaller count.

SSU places work on three named Navy indefinite delivery vehicles: Indefinite Delivery Contract N0018908GZ251 (19 task orders, $4.4 million combined potential value), Basic Ordering Agreement N0018919GZ054 (12 task orders, $580 thousand), and Indefinite Delivery Contract N0014097G2999 (8 task orders). These vehicles structure the recurring NROTC tuition and allowance delivery orders.

Activity declined over the last five years—from five awards in 2022 to one awarded in 2026 (as of the snapshot date of July 2026)—with 16 awards in 2023, 13 in 2024, and eight in 2025. Nine awards reach ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, creating recompete exposure. The source does not indicate the combined potential value of those completing awards.

SSU acts as a sub-recipient on cybersecurity and environmental research grants managed by larger prime recipients, including the University of Texas at San Antonio (cybersecurity research for DOE/NNSA involving IoT, SCADA, and artificial intelligence workforce training) and the University of Georgia Research Foundation (marine sciences research through the Louis Stokes STEM Pathways Alliance and gelatinous-food-web oceanography). SSU also receives sub-awards from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore for workforce development and from Georgia Tech for coastal equity and resilience infrastructure planning, supporting K-12 outreach and community engagement alongside core research delivery.

Federal grant work spans educational infrastructure (institutional aid, FIPSE-funded curriculum and teaching initiatives), student support (TRIO services, Talent Search, Upward Bound), workforce preparation (STEM education, cybersecurity training, marine sciences REU programs), and environmental research (microplastics tracking, plant contaminant uptake, coastal adaptation). NAICS coding shows 47 awards classified as "Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools," with the remainder scattered across educational support services, consulting, and research categories. Top PSC codes are Education/Training tuition and general education services (50 awards combined), reflecting the tuition-billing nature of the Navy contracts and educational-grant structure.