The Administrators Of Tulane Educational Fund

The Administrators Of Tulane Educational Fund, doing business as Tulane University, operates as a private, non-profit research university and federal prime recipient across educational services, biomedical research, and scientific infrastructure support—primarily as a grant recipient (85% of recent awards) rather than a contractor, with no SBA set-aside posture and no set-asides applied to the contracts and grants shown in the source.

Tulane is a comprehensive research institution headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana, delivering federal work across multiple concrete capability domains. Educational services anchor Navy programs: the university holds a ten-year Basic Ordering Agreement with the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (effective August 2025 through July 2035) and operates a National Defense establishment for Naval Reserve Officers' Training Corps (NROTC) tuition reimbursement through the Bureau of Naval Personnel, with recent delivery orders ranging from $34 thousand to $1.2 million for midshipmen tuition and allowable fees. Beyond military education, Tulane hosts the Tulane National Primate Research Center (TNPRC)—one of seven NIH-funded National Primate Research Centers—and operates a specific pathogen-free rhesus macaque breeding colony of over 4,500 animals, with HIV/AIDS research representing 63% of assigned nonhuman primates and anchoring the center's largest research program. The university delivers biomedical research infrastructure and services, including operation of a Cellular Immunology Core Laboratory for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases ($22.6 million definitive contract, cost-plus-no-fee, running through May 2031) and preclinical infectious disease modeling under a $146.3 million NIAID indefinite delivery contract for preclinical models of infectious diseases. Recent contract work includes a $1.0 million Army Corps of Engineers demonstration award for biodegradable foam delivery of algaecide for cyanobacteria bloom treatment on Lake Okeechobee (completion September 2027).

Customer concentration is dominated by NIH and its component institutes. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases leads by potential value at $559 million across 183 awards; the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute follows at $335.8 million across 76 awards. Together with the National Cancer Institute and other NIH institutes, HHS/NIH accounts for the vast majority of Tulane's federal funding. The Department of the Navy is the second-largest customer, with 31 awards to the Bureau of Naval Personnel and 41 additional Navy awards totaling $6.3 million and $574 thousand respectively, primarily for NROTC tuition and biomedical research support. The National Science Foundation places third with 278 awards spanning research grants in biological sciences, computer science, engineering, and mathematics. This concentration—with HHS/NIH dominating both volume and dollars—reflects Tulane's identity as a research university rather than a government contractor.

Tulane operates almost entirely as a federal prime recipient and contractor, not a subcontractor. Of 2,145 total awards (prime and sub), 1,816 (85%) are prime awards; 329 (15%) are sub-awards. Across SCI-reportable service contracts (a subset covering awards above $150,000 in FY2022–FY2024), Tulane invoiced $18.7 million as a prime across 39 records and appears in only 2 sub records, indicating minimal subcontractor role. SCI-reported FTE trajectory shows growth from 11.6 FTEs in FY2022 to 20.1 FTEs in FY2024 on federal service contracts; government-paid hourly rates span a median of $160.52/hr with a 90th percentile of $367.24/hr, reflecting a mix of academic and research professional labor. Across prime contracts, named subcontractors account for an average of 4% of total contractor hours, suggesting Tulane builds its own delivery teams internally rather than relying on subs.

The university subcontracts primarily to other research institutions and organizations when federal grants are sub-awarded. Named sub-grantee relationships include Johns Hopkins University (differential expression in Alzheimer's disease), University of Washington (pediatric tuberculosis diagnostics and treatment response monitoring), Pennington Biomedical Research Center (Louisiana Center for Advancing Uplifting Scientists Careers in Health, Nutrition, Obesity, and Diabetes Research), Columbia University (maternal health and HIV outcomes research), and University of Pennsylvania (HLA immunogenetics and transplant outcomes), among numerous others. These reflect Tulane's role as a prime recipient on large NIH and NSF cooperative agreements that subcontract scientific and epidemiological work to collaborative institutions.

Federal grant activity dominates the award portfolio. In the past five years (2022–2026), Tulane received 151–278 awards per year, with 2024 marking a peak at 205 awards. The combined potential value across all 2,145 awards reaches $965.5 million, with $3.08 billion obligated—reflecting multi-year grants and contracts with progressive funding releases. Upcoming recompete exposure is moderate: 164 awards with ultimate completion dates in the next 24 months carry combined potential value of $46.4 million, primarily in NIH grants. Recent notable awards include $2.655 million from the National Institute on Drug Abuse for chronic prenatal THC exposure and SIV-associated inflammation in rhesus macaques (five-year project through May 2030), $7.998 million from the NIH Office of the Director for TNPRC indoor-outdoor housing expansion for the SPF macaque breeding colony (completion May 2028), and a $1.998 million NOAA cooperative agreement for Southwest Louisiana and Central Acadiana regional resilience planning (completion September 2029). Alongside contract work, Tulane operates a robust federal grant research program spanning infectious disease, neuroscience, climate science, education, and health equity—positioning the university as a major federal biomedical and basic research performer rather than a service contractor.