Suffolk University

Suffolk University, a tax-exempt private nonprofit educational institution headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, operates as a federal grant recipient and occasional research contractor, with 91% of its recent awards as prime recipient and 9% as a sub-recipient under other universities' federal grants. The university competes exclusively in full-and-open procurements without set-aside designations across its federal footprint.

Suffolk's customer base spans 25 distinct federal agencies, though concentration is moderate. The Department of Education's Office of Postsecondary Education leads by award count with 14 awards, followed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity with 13 awards. However, dollar concentration diverges sharply from volume: the Department of the Navy's Naval Education and Training Command dominates potential value at $4.1 million across 6 awards, while the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Shared Services Center holds $278 thousand across 5 awards. The top five customers by award count account for 54% of recent awards; the top five by potential value represent 98% of combined potential dollars, signaling that most awards are low-dollar grants concentrated in education, workforce development, and applied research.

Suffolk's prime work splits between recurring tuition-and-fees delivery orders to the Navy (approximately $27,000 to $27,600 per award for Naval Education and Training Command enrollment) and research grants from civilian agencies. Representative research prime awards include a $50,000 NASA Shared Services Center purchase order awarded in August 2025 for investigation of volatile methylsiloxane surface films and phase partitioning analysis using International Space Station data, with performance in Cleveland, Ohio and final report delivery in September 2026; a $49,946 NASA research award for secondary organic aerosol formation via volatile methylsiloxane oxidation completed in January 2025; a $425,000 Department of Housing and Urban Development grant (CFDA 14.418, Private Enforcement Initiatives) effective through February 2027 for fair housing enforcement and testing in Boston; and a $328,407 National Institute of Justice Project Grant awarded in January 2024 for process and outcome evaluation of Boston's Community-Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative through December 2028. Additional prime grants support the McNair Scholars Project, Upward Bound programs, Veterans Upward Bound, and professional development workshops for early-career ocean scientists hosted at Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography conferences.

Parent vehicles carrying Suffolk work are minimal in scale: a Basic Ordering Agreement (N0024417G0009) with the Department of the Navy holds 5 task orders valued at $136 thousand combined, and an Indefinite Delivery Contract (DAKF4080H0131) with the Department of the Army carries 1 task order. Awards entering recompete within the next twenty-four months total 6, with combined potential value of $50 thousand, representing minimal pipeline exposure.

Suffolk acts as a sub-recipient under grants managed by the Trustees of Tufts College (teaching coordination and curriculum development for the Tufts IRACDA program), the University of Massachusetts Medical School ($15,000 annual subcontracts for administrative and teaching costs supporting MPA Fellows), the American Museum of Natural History (sensory system research on net-casting spiders), UTEC Inc. (evaluation of community violence intervention programs), and the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (pandemic relief funds). Activity has declined year over year from seven awards in 2022 to one award in 2026 year-to-date, reflecting the episodic nature of grant funding cycles rather than a sustained prime contract footprint. Combined dollars obligated ($54.3 million) exceed combined potential value ($4.5 million), indicating that many historical awards have been fully funded and closed.