The University Of Iowa

The University of Iowa, a state-controlled public research institution headquartered in Iowa City, Iowa, operates as a prime federal contractor and research recipient across broad scientific, medical, and educational programs, with 6,005 prime awards (89% of its recent footprint) spanning contracts, IDVs, and grants. The institution competes predominantly full-and-open (no set-aside designations in recent awards), reflecting its size and research capacity as a major land-grant university.

The University of Iowa's federal work spans three major capability areas: biomedical and life sciences research (particularly infectious disease, immunology, cancer, and neuroscience), health services delivery (laboratory testing, clinical care, and healthcare infrastructure support), and space science and physical sciences research. In concrete terms, recent work includes a $13.1 million National Institute on Drug Abuse award to establish and operate a NIH NeuroBank brain tissue collection site for post-mortem neural research; a $2.5 million National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases grant investigating M6A RNA modifications and HIV-1 replication in primary CD4+ T cells; a $2 million NSF award for accelerated design of complex organic molecular solid forms using machine learning and experimental validation; statistical laboratory testing and research support services delivered through a $2 million five-year IDC with Veterans Integrated Service Network 23; and ENT (ear, nose, throat) clinical services provided under delivery orders to the VA. The institution also operates the CAMBUS public transit system under Federal Transit Administration support ($2.36 million FY2025 operating assistance).

Customer concentration skews heavily toward the National Institutes of Health and subordinate institutes. The top five funding agencies account for 36% of awards by count: Veterans Integrated Service Network 23 (692 awards, $150.7 million combined potential value), NIH overall, National Science Foundation (524 awards), NASA Shared Services Center (324 awards, $64.4 million), and NIH National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (232 awards, $71.5 million). By potential value, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases dominates the portfolio ($1.22 billion across 230 awards), followed by the National Cancer Institute ($937.7 million across 172 awards). This concentration reflects the University of Iowa's research mission and NIH-funded medical school and hospital operations.

The University of Iowa holds positions on several indefinite-delivery vehicles. A Navy IDC (N0014098G2461) carries 158 task orders valued at $8.4 million combined. The institution also operates under a single-award five-year IDC with VISN 23 (ceiling $2 million, awarded September 2024, running through August 2029) for statistical laboratory testing and research support, with multiple delivery orders issued for research personnel, laboratory services, autopsy services, and ENT clinical care. A Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery Basic Ordering Agreement (established March 2025, running through February 2035) with no specified ceiling supports diverse research, healthcare, and specialized services including tuition and fees, laboratory testing, and clinical research.

Activity has grown substantially: awards per year climbed from 298 in 2023 to 494 in 2024, before declining to 362 in 2025 and 282 in 2026, reflecting typical federal procurement volatility. A significant recompete cliff looms: 431 awards with ultimate completion dates in the next twenty-four months carry combined potential value of $285.9 million, representing substantial renewal and competition risk across the institution's federal portfolio.

On Service Contract Inventory (SCI) reporting—a partial view capturing federal service contracts above the $150,000 threshold—the University of Iowa reported $35.4 million in invoiced federal service revenue across FY2022–FY2025 (68 prime records, 13 sub records). The trajectory shows volatility: FY2024 peaked at $18.9 million across 74.0 FTEs; FY2025 declined to $9.9 million across 85.4 FTEs. Median government-paid rates on these contracts ran around $48.23/hr, with senior labor pricing reaching $160.24/hr at the 90th percentile and entry-level rates around $32.74/hr. SCI-reported FTEs are a strict subset of the institution's total federal services delivery and do not capture goods, products, grants (which dominate the portfolio by count), or non-federal revenue.

The University of Iowa operates predominantly as a prime—89% of recent awards are prime contracts or grants—and rarely acts as a subcontractor to other primes. Across SCI-reportable prime service contracts, subcontractors perform approximately 6% of total hours, with 48 named subcontractors reported. This posture reflects the institution's size and self-sufficiency in research delivery; it brings its own faculty, students, and laboratory infrastructure rather than relying on external subs for core research execution. When the University of Iowa appears as a subrecipient or sub-awardee, it typically does so on collaborative research grants (for example, as a collaborator on NSF and NIH projects led by other universities) or as a member of research consortia, rather than as a feeder subcontractor to large defense or commercial primes.

The University of Iowa maintains regional and national prominence in health sciences, materials science, engineering, neuroscience, and space research. Its 6,739 total awards—spanning 262 distinct federal customer agencies and a combined potential value of $3.17 billion—position it as a top-tier federal research recipient, with growth driven by expanding NIH funding, NSF research grants, and VA health services delivery. The institution faces significant recompete activity in the 2026–2027 window and should monitor expiration timelines across the VISN 23 IDC, Navy BOA, and distributed grant portfolio.