The Ohio State University

The Ohio State University Office of Sponsored Programs Division, doing business as The Ohio State University Office of Sponsored Programs and its subsidiaries, is a U.S. state government entity and land-grant research institution that acts as the prime recipient and administrator of federal research grants and contracts across life sciences, physical sciences, engineering, and space research. The university operates as a prime awardee in 82 percent of recent federal awards and does not compete under SBA set-aside categories. It is a state-controlled institution of higher learning headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, with a subsidiary, Ohio State Global One Health LLC, supporting international research collaboration.

The Office of Sponsored Programs manages a sprawling federal research portfolio spanning 277 distinct customer agencies. Recent activity shows 8,096 total awards with combined potential value of $445.5 million and combined dollars obligated of $9.02 billion across all federal sources. The top five customers by award count account for 35 percent of recent awards: the National Science Foundation leads with 1,021 awards, followed by the Department of Health and Human Services National Institutes of Health (573 awards), the National Cancer Institute (493 awards), NASA's Shared Services Center (426 awards, $87.7 million combined potential value), and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (286 awards, $30.3 million combined potential value). By potential value, NASA's Shared Services Center dominates with $87.7 million across 426 awards, followed by the NHLBI at $30.3 million, the Air Force Research Laboratory at $9.7 million, and the Defense Health Agency at $3.4 million. Research concentration reflects the university's land-grant mission: top NAICS categories center on research and development in the physical, engineering, and life sciences (86 awards), colleges and universities (49 awards), and testing laboratories (40 awards); top PSC codes include space-science basic research (114 awards) and general science and technology R&D services (67 awards).

The university holds multiple parent contract vehicles, with an Indefinite Delivery Contract (DOLBLS15D0005) anchoring the largest activity at 26 task orders and $59.6 million combined potential value, an IDC (693JJ923D000057) with 25 task orders, and a DTNH2214D00348 IDC with 12 task orders and $3.6 million combined potential value. The university also holds an Other Transaction IDV from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency with a $3 million ceiling awarded May 7, 2026, supporting advanced research in nonlinear transducer systems and internal resonance phenomena. Recent activity has declined: awards per year dropped from 886 in 2024 to 601 in 2025 and 394 in 2026, with only 12 awards recorded in 2027 to date in the source data. In the recompete window of the next 24 months, 739 awards with combined potential value of $35.1 million face ultimate completion and therefore recompete exposure.

On federal service contracts captured in the Service Contract Inventory, the university reported $24.4 million in invoiced revenue across FY2022–FY2025 (prime records), with peak activity in FY2022 at $10 million across 70.9 FTEs, declining to $1.8 million across 10.4 FTEs in FY2025. Government-paid hourly rates on SCI-reportable service contracts ranged from $23.26 per hour at the 10th percentile to a median of $77.06 per hour and $344.36 per hour at the 90th percentile, reflecting the mix of research support labor, technical specialists, and senior investigator effort. Across SCI-reportable prime contracts, the average subcontractor hours share was 7 percent, with 8 named subcontractors identified, indicating the university retains approximately 91 percent of service-contract hours internally and builds its own delivery teams rather than relying heavily on sub-engagement.

The university subcontracts to Transportation Research Center Inc. on biomechanics research task orders and to the California Institute of Technology on the SPHEREx mission (Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer). It also acts as a sub-recipient on federal grants through leading institutions including St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (NIAID Centers of Excellence for Influenza Research and Response), University of California Santa Barbara (power module design and circuit implementation), the University of Pittsburgh (multiple collaborations in clinical research), Northwestern University (NK cell therapy research), Johns Hopkins University (clinical trial coordination), and numerous other research universities and medical centers across NIH, NSF, DOE, and DoD portfolios. The university serves in sub-recipient roles on approximately 1,472 sub-awards across all federal sources, accounting for 18 percent of recent award activity and spanning biomedical research, translational science, clinical trials, infrastructure research, and education initiatives across the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, Department of Defense, and civilian mission agencies. The university's role as a research institution positions it to act as prime or sub across basic research, applied research, and exploratory development activities, with minimal service-contract subcontracting and deep in-house research delivery capability across federal research priorities.