University Of Arizona

The University of Arizona's Bursar's Office, a division of the Arizona Board of Regents and child entity of University of Arizona (the parent), operates as a federal contractor and research grant recipient delivering educational services, research and development, and specialized technical support to defense and civilian federal agencies. The Bursar's Office is a U.S. State Government entity and public land-grant research university; it does not hold SBA certifications and competes in full-and-open procurements without set-aside designations. The entity is headquartered in Tucson, Arizona, with work performed primarily on the main campus and at specialized research facilities including the Multiple Mirror Telescope on Mount Hopkins.

The Bursar's Office dominates the parent University of Arizona's federal footprint as a prime contractor (96% of awards) and operates as a sub-recipient on a smaller volume of federal grant work (4% of awards). Its capability portfolio centers on two distinct service lines: tuition and fees billing for military officer-training programs (particularly Naval Reserve Officers' Training Corps midshipmen), and specialized technical services in optical systems and mirror fabrication supporting the Smithsonian Institution's astronomical research infrastructure. Representative contracts include a $679,539 delivery order from the Bureau of Naval Personnel for Fall 2025 NROTC midshipmen tuition and allowable fees (December 2025), a $1,438,129 cost-reimbursement definitive contract with the Smithsonian Institution for operation, maintenance, and development of the Multiple Mirror Telescope on Mount Hopkins through June 2025 (July 2024), and a $13,900 purchase order from the U.S. Geological Survey for genome sequencing services supporting seagrass genomic diversity research in Guam and surrounding Pacific Islands (July 2026). Recent work also includes lens fabrication for the Office of Naval Research ($6,322) and aluminization of telescope mirrors for the Smithsonian Institution ($14,045 and $26,623 across two orders).

The Bursar's Office serves 40 distinct federal agencies, with customer concentration split between defense and civilian research customers. The top five agencies by award count account for 38% of awards, led by the Department of the Air Force (68 awards) and the Department of the Army (23 awards), followed by the Department of the Navy Bureau of Naval Personnel (16 awards, $5.2 million combined potential value), NASA (12 awards, $7.4 million), and the Smithsonian Institution (8 awards, $4.1 million). By potential value, the concentration shifts toward research agencies: NASA and NASA Goddard Space Center (12 and 8 awards respectively, combined $14.6 million), the Navy Bureau of Naval Personnel (16 awards, $5.2 million), and the Smithsonian Institution ($4.1 million). The Bursar's Office operates under two primary parent vehicles — Indefinite Delivery Contract N0014006G0032 (16 task orders, $5.2 million combined potential value) and Basic Ordering Agreement N0018919GZ071 running through July 2029 (12 task orders, $4.3 million). Five additional blanket purchase agreements and indefinite delivery contracts support lower-volume task-order activity.

Recent award volume has declined year over year, from 10 awards in 2022 to 2 in 2026, with only two awards scheduled for ultimate completion in the next twenty-four months (combined potential value $873 thousand), indicating minimal recompete risk in the near term. The Bursar's Office acts as a sub-contractor to Caci Technologies on a March 2025 electro-optic technology development task order and to Arete Associates on a December 2023 real-time simulation support contract, each representing sub-kilogram-class engagement. Federal grant work is routed through other prime recipients: the University of Denver (forestry and climate-growth research, January and March 2025), Dignity Health (clinical research data analysis, January and February 2024), Oregon Health & Science University (cancer research capitation, March 2024), and the Arizona Department of Economic Security (child care development fund administration, July and August 2022). Combined obligated federal dollars across all awards total $82.9 million against a $102.1 million combined potential value.