Universidad Central Del Caribe, Inc.

Universidad Central Del Caribe, Inc., a non-profit Hispanic-serving private university located in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, is a federal grant recipient and tuition-service provider to the Department of Defense, the Department of Health and Human Services, and civilian agencies, operating as prime recipient on the vast majority of its federal footprint (92% of awards) with limited subcontract engagement (8%).

The institution operates as a medical and health sciences education and research center. Prime federal grant work anchors the portfolio: the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) funded a $148,607 Project Grant (CFDA 93.859, Biomedical Research and Research Training) awarded July 3, 2026, for acquisition of a Beckman Coulter Optima XPN-90 ultracentrifuge to support molecular, oncological, and immunological research across multiple departments at the university's School of Medicine. Earlier NIGMS grants (April 1, 2024, through March 31, 2028, and December 1, 2023, through November 30, 2026) funded basic research on PYK2 signaling in glioblastoma immunotherapy and extracellular vesicles modulation in tumor microenvironments. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Center for Substance Abuse Treatment awarded a $1+ million Project Grant (September 30, 2024, through September 29, 2027) to operate the Providers Clinical Support System for Universities (UCC-PCSS-U) program, training graduate-level medical students in substance use disorder and opioid use disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery services. SAMHSA Center for Mental Health Services funded a separate Project Grant (September 30, 2023, through September 29, 2028) to establish the Hispanic/Latino Behavioral Health Center of Excellence, providing training and technical assistance on trauma-informed practices and peer recovery services to 2,500 individuals over the grant cycle. The Bureau of Health Professionals funded addiction medicine fellowship training (July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2030) and an Integrated Substance Use Disorder Training Program (July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2028). The Office of Adolescent Health awarded a Cooperative Agreement (July 1, 2023, through June 26, 2026) for the IMPACT-PR project—teen pregnancy prevention and sexual health equity programming targeting up to 3,000 Puerto Rican youth annually across schools, federally qualified health centers, and regional mental health clinics. The National Cancer Institute funded a Puerto Rico Cancer Research Meeting (July 19, 2024, through July 18, 2025) and prior research on PYK2 inhibition in glioblastoma (December 1, 2023, through November 30, 2026). The Federal Office of Rural Health Policy awarded a Technology-Enabled Learning Collaborative Program (September 30, 2024, through September 29, 2029).

Contract work centers on tuition and Health Professional Scholarship Program (HPSP) delivery orders from the Department of the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. The Navy issued three firm fixed-price delivery orders between September 2024 and December 2025 totaling approximately $62,783 for tuition and fees. A Basic Ordering Agreement executed by the Navy's Bureau of Medicine and Surgery on May 15, 2026 (with a ceiling of $0.00 and performance through May 14, 2036) establishes a framework for future health sciences education and training task orders, though the agreement carries no obligated funds and the source discloses no recent ordering activity against it beyond the pre-existing delivery orders.

Customer concentration is diffuse across 26 federal agencies. The top five customer agencies by award count—the National Institutes of Health (17 awards), the Department of the Army (16 awards), the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (15 awards), NIGMS (11 awards), and the Department of Education Office of Postsecondary Education (8 awards)—account for 55% of awards. By potential-value dollars, the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery dominates with $212 thousand across 15 awards, followed by the Navy itself (3 awards, $62 thousand) and the Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Health Administration (1 award, $10 thousand); however, these figures reflect only the tuition-order subset of the portfolio—the $117.5 million in obligated dollars reflects the true scale of the grant footprint, which the source does not granularly break out by customer agency.

The institution holds three named parent vehicles on the contract side: Army IDC DADA0380H0026 (11 task orders), Navy IDC N0018908GZ240 (8 task orders, $141 thousand combined potential value), and Navy Basic Ordering Agreement N0018916GZ011 (3 task orders, $62 thousand combined potential value).

As a sub-recipient, Universidad Central Del Caribe participates in grant pass-throughs from Johns Hopkins University (NA-ACCORD HIV care and epidemiologic research collaboration, October 9, 2026), the Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene (Region 2 Addiction Technology Transfer Center covering New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands; Rural Opioid Technical Assistance Regional Centers, with awards in January 2024 and October 2024), the University of Kentucky Research Foundation (research administration and compliance support, December 10, 2024), and Puerto Rico's Governor's Authorized Representative (disaster recovery, emergency measures, and permanent facilities work including campus-wide debris removal and neuroscience facility reconstruction, with awards spanning April 2022 through October 2025).

Activity has grown from four awards in 2022 to a recent peak of eleven in 2024, with five awards in 2025 and three in 2026 year to date; seven awards face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months and therefore represent recompete exposure. The portfolio is heavily weighted toward education and training delivery: 35 awards carry the PSC code for Education/Training—Tuition/Registration/Membership Fees, with 13 awards classified under NAICS Administration of Education Programs and 8 under Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools. The institution competes in full-and-open competitions without set-aside designation; neither 8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB, nor other SBA certifications appear in the source.