University Of Memphis

University of Memphis, a public research institution and subsidiary of the Board of Regents Tennessee, serves as a prime recipient on federal grants and a definitive-contract prime for defense and scientific research, competing exclusively on full-and-open basis with no set-aside designations. The university operates across 142 distinct federal agencies with a portfolio of 892 total awards (741 prime, 151 sub) valued at $47.5 million in combined potential value, though obligated dollars total $561.3 million, reflecting multi-year project funding across research, education, and training programs.

University of Memphis delivers research and development services concentrated in life sciences, physical engineering research, educational services, and applied research programs. Representative recent work includes a $21.2 million definitive contract (awarded August 2024) from the Office of Naval Research to design and construct the UXS Degraded Environment Facility (UXSDEF), a testing infrastructure for unmanned systems operating in challenging environmental conditions, with Phase I developing a fan-array wind tunnel with motion capture and Phase II expanding to additional degraded environment simulations. A $7.192 million firm fixed-price definitive contract from the Army Research Development and Engineering Command (awarded June 2024) supports research and development to expand unmanned aerial systems capabilities for wide-area intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. The university also holds a $21.184 million Navy contract for unmanned systems testing and a $2.8 million Economic Development Administration grant for the Black Wealth Advancement through New Business and Knowledge Development (BANK) initiative to transform microbusinesses into scalable technology startups.

National Science Foundation dominates customer concentration by award count (178 awards) but represents a small share of potential value dollars due to the prevalence of smaller research grants. The top five agencies by award count—NSF, U.S. Geological Survey Office of Acquisitions and Grants (43 awards), USGS (34 awards), Department of the Air Force (29 awards), and National Institutes of Health (25 awards)—account for 35% of recent awards. By potential value, the Army Materiel Command Research Development and Engineering Command leads with 10 awards ($7.2 million), followed by NASA Shared Services Center (10 awards, $792 thousand). The university's Navy customer relationship anchors significant task-order activity through multiple vehicles: an IDC with 20 task orders and a basic ordering agreement on NROTC tuition and educational services generating recurring delivery orders.

The university places work under five major parent vehicles, led by an indefinite delivery contract (F0160079D0327) generating 29 task orders and a Navy IDC (N0018903D0011) with 20 task orders. A Navy BOA (N0018919GZ043) supporting NROTC education carries 10 task orders valued at $2.1 million combined potential. Recent activity shows 77 awards in FY2024, declining to 63 in FY2025 and 14 through mid-2026, reflecting grant cycles and contract completion patterns. Forty-six awards (combined potential value $7.5 million) complete within the next twenty-four months, exposing the university to significant recompete activity.

As a prime contractor, University of Memphis typically builds its own delivery teams rather than engaging subcontractors; across the small Service Contract Inventory sample (0.3 FTEs invoiced in FY2023), sub-engagement was zero, indicating direct delivery of awarded work. The university serves as a subrecipient on federal grants to Vanderbilt University, University of Tennessee, and other research institutions on topics ranging from machine learning in healthcare to infectious disease surveillance and environmental remediation. Prime subcontracting is minimal; the university appears primarily as a grant recipient or principal investigator leading research projects rather than as a sub-prime on other institutions' contracts.

Federal grant work dominates the portfolio in both award count and mission scope. The university holds CAREER awards from the National Science Foundation for temporal learning in healthcare decision support ($500 thousand, FY2025–FY2030) and computational chemistry simulations ($500 thousand through November 2028). Major health research grants include $365 thousand from the National Institute on Aging for a ten-year longitudinal study of information and communication technology use and dementia risk in rural populations, and $506 thousand from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to investigate oyster microbiome disruption and bioaccumulation of environmental contaminants. The university serves as a TRIO Student Support Services recipient under the Department of Education (multiple awards for disadvantaged student services), recipient of Department of Transportation grants for workforce training in connected automated vehicles, and recipient of NSF grants for energy systems research, AI-driven applications, and STEM education. A $1.23 million Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration grant supports development of passive RFID sensors for real-time tire monitoring on commercial vehicles; a $2 million FMCSA grant addresses commercial motor vehicle enforcement through AI and geofencing technologies. Educational programming includes four TRIO Student Support Services grants ($310 thousand to $450 thousand each, FY2025–FY2026) serving low-income and first-generation students; rehabilitation counselor training ($180 thousand, FY2025–FY2026); and transition programs for students with intellectual disabilities ($409 thousand, FY2025–FY2026).

The university's grant activity reflects its identity as an R1 research institution with over 21,000 students. Award trajectory shows consistent production of 56–77 federal awards annually over the past five years, with 2024 peaking at 77 total awards before declining to 63 in 2025. The Service Contract Inventory data, capturing only $74 thousand across three records in FY2023, represents a negligible slice of the university's actual federal services revenue; SCI excludes grants, research subcontracts, and tuition-based education contracts, which dominate the portfolio. Median hourly rates on the single SCI-reported service contract were approximately $131.59/hr, reflecting academic professional services pricing. The university does not hold positions on government-wide contract vehicles such as GWACs or agency-wide IDIQs; instead, it operates under Navy and Army agency-specific ordering agreements and basic ordering agreements for education and training services, plus ad hoc research grants from federal agencies.