Silent Spring Institute, Inc.

Silent Spring Institute, Inc., a nonprofit research organization headquartered in Newton, Massachusetts, is a prime recipient of federal research grants focused on environmental health and chemical exposure assessment. The institute operates exclusively as a grant recipient (67% of recent awards as prime, 33% as sub-recipient) through the National Institutes of Health and affiliated federal agencies; it holds no federal contracts and does not compete on contract vehicles.

Silent Spring Institute's capability portfolio centers on epidemiological research, biomonitoring, and community-based environmental health assessment. The institute investigates associations between environmental chemical exposures and adverse health outcomes, with particular focus on breast cancer prevention, PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) exposure pathways, lead hazard assessment, and radon exposure. The institute also develops and operates digital tools for personalized report-back of individual exposure results to study participants, including its Digital Exposure Report-back Interface (DERBI), the PFAS Exchange What's My Exposure Tool, the Private Well Tool, and the Detox Me app. Representative prime grant work includes a $154,700 NIEHS Superfund Hazardous Substances Basic Research and Education award (CFDA 93.143) dated August 2026 to assess associations between PFAS exposure from drinking water and hypertension and blood pressure outcomes using data from 6,240 adults and 883 children; a K01 career development award from NIEHS dated April 2024 to investigate mechanistic interactions of estrogenicity and genotoxicity in breast cancer using rodent models and multiplexed spatial biology; a $17,000 EPA Research Triangle Park award for PFAS characterization research; and a project grant from HUD's Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control dated April 2025 supporting comprehensive lead-based paint hazard reduction and healthy homes initiatives.

Customer concentration is heavily weighted to federal health and environmental research agencies. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences dominates the footprint at 13 awards, followed by the NIH Office of the Director (4 awards), the CDC (3 awards), and HUD's Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control (3 awards) — these top four funding agencies account for 76% of awards. In its sub-recipient role, Silent Spring Institute provides exposure assessment and results-reporting services on grants led by the University of Rochester, the University of Kentucky Research Foundation, Columbia University, the University of California San Francisco, and the University of Rhode Island, with work spanning radon report-back tool development, drinking water contaminant analysis, pesticide exposure assessment in family child care settings, and indoor air quality and endocrine disruptor education.

Activity has been volatile but recent: four awards in 2022, one in 2023, two in 2024, five in 2025, and four in 2026 (most recent in August 2026). Four awards face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months and carry recompete exposure. Combined potential value across all 33 awards is $33,000 (reflecting the source's reporting convention for grant awards, which carry much smaller individual ceiling values than contracts), with $30 million obligated across the full award portfolio. The institute serves twelve distinct federal agencies, primarily through the HHS research and public health apparatus rather than defense or civilian IT procuring offices.