University Of Mississippi Medical Center

University Of Mississippi Medical Center, a state-controlled academic health sciences center and Mississippi's only Level I trauma center based in Jackson, operates as a prime recipient and contractor delivering biomedical research, epidemiological field center operations, specialized clinical laboratory services, and medical education and training support to the federal government across 91 distinct agencies. The institution competes full-and-open without pursuing set-asides, anchored by sustained dominance in National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute funding across longitudinal cardiovascular research cohorts.

UMMC's capability portfolio centers on large-scale epidemiological research operations, particularly field center management and data stewardship for long-running prospective cohort studies examining cardiovascular disease, metabolic dysfunction, and related comorbidities in underserved and high-risk populations. The Jackson Heart Study (JHS) Field Center, a prospective cohort of 5,306 African American adults in the Jackson metropolitan area, represents the institution's flagship deliverable; a single-award indefinite-delivery contract with NHLBI valued at $63.9 million through September 2035 has already generated $17.3 million in delivery orders for field center operations and legacy cohort examinations. UMMC also operates the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study field center, conducting longitudinal data collection and participant management across multiple examination waves with combined potential value exceeding $7.6 million. Beyond epidemiology, UMMC delivers specialized reference laboratory services—STAT pathology consultations for the Department of Veterans Affairs, medical laboratory testing through acquisition of equipment and infrastructure funding from the National Institute of Standards and Technology ($2.8 million for cancer research translational center furnishings and equipment), and clinical support including tuition and fees to support military personnel education (Navy, $83,521 delivery order). Recent basic research work includes mouse model generation for the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders ($14,838) and participation in multicenter clinical trials on trauma resuscitation strategies and pediatric outcomes research as a sub-recipient under University of Pittsburgh leadership.

Customer concentration is pronounced and monolithic. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute dominates by both volume and dollars: 134 awards carrying $239.7 million combined potential value (88% of total portfolio value), driven almost entirely by the JHS and ARIC field center IDIQs and subordinate delivery orders. The Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Integrated Service Network 16 ranks second with 39 awards and $23.4 million potential value, primarily for laboratory services and affiliated clinical staff support. The National Institute on Aging, National Institute on Drug Abuse, and Bureau of Medicine and Surgery collectively account for less than 2% of portfolio value. This concentration reflects UMMC's strategic positioning as a trusted research infrastructure partner for NHLBI-funded population health initiatives rather than a competitive bidder across diverse federal markets.

The institution holds no named parent vehicles or GWACs beyond the two primary NHLBI indefinite-delivery contracts (JHS Field Center IDIQ and ARIC Field Center IDIQ). Task ordering activity appears fragmented across small single-award BOAs and IDIQs managed by individual agencies: a basic ordering agreement with the Navy (N0018916GZ012) generated 14 task orders valued at $1.1 million; VA contract 75N92018D00010 yielded five delivery orders totaling $20.5 million; and Department of Defense contract W81XWH16D0024 produced five task orders of unspecified value. This pattern indicates that UMMC operates primarily through direct agency relationships and specialized single-award vehicles rather than through governmentwide acquisition schedules or multi-award platforms typical of commercial contractors.

Activity has grown substantially. Awards increased from 52 in 2022 to 120 in 2024, then moderated to 71 in 2025 and 56 in 2026 (year-to-date through December), reflecting the episodic rhythm of grant renewals and delivery order issuance rather than steady-state contract execution. Fifty-five awards with ultimate completion dates in the next twenty-four months carry $3.8 million in combined potential value, a modest recompete exposure relative to the $271.2 million portfolio, though the JHS and ARIC IDIQs themselves—with cumulative potential value exceeding $70 million and completion dates extending to 2030 and beyond—represent the institution's largest renewal risk and strategic imperative.

Service Contract Inventory data reveal that UMMC's federal service contract footprint above the $150,000 SCI threshold peaked in FY2022 at $10.7 million invoiced across 51.7 FTEs, then contracted sharply to $5.9 million and 29.5 FTEs in FY2023, with negligible SCI-reportable activity in FY2024 and FY2025. This decline reflects a shift in procurement model: the institution's federal work is predominantly grant-funded research (epidemiological field centers, biomedical research projects) and equipment/infrastructure procurements rather than ongoing service contracts captured by SCI. Across SCI-reportable prime contracts, median government-paid hourly rates ran $88.30/hr, with senior research and clinical labor pricing through $242.94/hr at the 90th percentile, characteristic of academic medical center labor costs. The institution performs research services largely with internal staff rather than through subcontractors; average sub-hours share across SCI-reportable prime contracts was zero percent, indicating minimal reliance on sub-tier service providers.

In its subcontractor role, UMMC participates as a research site or clinical partner under prime recipients including University of Pittsburgh (trauma resuscitation trials MATIC2 and CAVALIER), University of Alabama at Birmingham (multiple NIH-funded epidemiological and clinical research studies), Mayo Clinic (vaccine immunogenetics, uterine leiomyomas health equity research), and Columbia University (tuberculosis resistance genomics, hypertension interventions leveraging Jackson Heart Study data). These arrangements typically involve site leadership, recruitment and retention of study participants, clinical assessment and specimen collection, and data analysis supporting multicenter publications rather than subcontracted delivery of standalone services. UMMC's participation as a sub-recipient in federal grant networks reflects its status as a regional research infrastructure node rather than a competitive supplier of discrete goods or services.

Federal grant activity spans National Institutes of Health institutes (National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institute on Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Eye Institute, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of General Medical Sciences) as well as non-NIH agencies including SAMHSA (substance use disorder treatment expansion), Department of Justice (law enforcement training), HRSA (psychiatric emergency services construction, rural health telehealth), National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (dental ceramic bonding research), Department of Agriculture NIFA (rice husk ash sustainable materials), National Institute of Standards and Technology (cancer research equipment), and National Archives and Records Administration (historical records preservation). Representative recent grant awards include $554,565 from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke for translational drug development in Huntington's disease, $1.802 million from the National Institute on Drug Abuse for oxytocin therapeutics research in cocaine use disorder, $350,000 from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases for kidney disease mechanisms research, and $1.090 million from NARA for historical records publication and digitization. Construction and infrastructure grants from HRSA totaling $3.2 million and $4.3 million support psychiatric emergency services and burn unit development, reflecting the institution's strategic expansion of behavioral health and specialized trauma care capacity. The Medical Scientist Training Program grant from NIGMS ($381,974 over five years) supports physician-scientist training across multiple doctoral disciplines.

UMMC operates as both prime recipient and sub-recipient across its grant portfolio. As a prime recipient, the institution controls research design, participant recruitment, and outcome measurement across epidemiological cohort studies and investigator-initiated biomedical research. As a sub-recipient, it contributes specialized clinical, research, and administrative infrastructure—field center operations, site-level recruitment and retention, specimen collection, data coordination—to larger NIH-supported networks headquartered at Johns Hopkins, Columbia, Mayo, and regional universities. This dual posture positions UMMC as an indispensable regional partner for NIH-funded research addressing health disparities and chronic disease in underserved populations, particularly African Americans in the Deep South.