University Of California, San Diego

UC San Diego Health, the operating division of the University of California, San Diego, is a tax-exempt educational institution and 1862 land-grant research university that delivers healthcare services and conducts federally funded research and training as both a prime recipient and subrecipient across the NIH, NSF, NASA, DoD, and civilian federal agencies. The organization operates with no SBA set-aside designations and competes in full-and-open federal procurements and grant competitions.

UC San Diego Health's federal footprint concentrates heavily in biomedical research, health sciences training, and clinical services. As a prime recipient, the institution has secured over 9,250 federal awards totaling $446.5 million in combined potential value—though obligated dollars ($17.2 billion) reflect decades of multi-year research grants and contracts with accumulated value. The top funding sources by award count are the National Science Foundation (1,453 awards), the National Institutes of Health (1,252 awards, $23.6 million combined potential value), and NIH's National Institute on Allergy and Infectious Diseases (381 awards, $33.4 million). By potential-value share, NASA's Shared Services Center leads with 246 awards worth $70.1 million, followed by NIAID ($33.4 million across 381 awards) and the Navy Information Warfare Systems Command ($29.9 million across 122 awards). The Veterans Affairs system, particularly Veterans Integrated Service Network 22 (VISN 22), funds 192 awards worth $17.1 million, primarily for clinical affiliate services and laboratory core support.

UC San Diego Health's concrete capability portfolio spans biomedical research, clinical training, and health professional education. Recent prime contract awards include a $252,994 sole-source purchase order from Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific (July 2026) for radiological testing of RADIAC detectors using gamma-ray and neutron sources; a $167,200 NASA Goddard Space Flight Center purchase order (August 2026) for ophthalmic image analysis to quantify spaceflight-associated neuro-ocular syndrome; multiple Veterans Affairs delivery orders for animal laboratory and core services ($23,522 and two orders totaling $89,999 in September 2026), ophthalmology affiliate services ($43,815, September 2026), and research and analysis base services ($166,086 across a four-year contract, July 2026). Federal grant recipients include the institution as a lead research area organization within the Johns Hopkins University Multidisciplinary Sensory Experiences and Embodied Expertise (MSEE) URA, a participant in NIH's Healthy Brain and Child Development Consortium Administrative Core under General Hospital Corporation prime, and as a sub-recipient on the PREVENT-HCV kidney transplant trial under Johns Hopkins University and the ENRICH cardiovascular health promotion program under Johns Hopkins University. SCI-reportable data shows $19.9 million in invoiced federal service contract revenue across FY2022–FY2025, with roughly 12–18 FTEs annually delivering services; median government-paid hourly rates run around $148/hr, with senior labor reaching $366/hr.

Activity trajectory shows recent decline: awards per year fell from 851 in 2024 to 462 in 2026, with only 17 awards recorded in 2027 (a partial-year snapshot). Within the next twenty-four months, 875 awards face completion, representing $31.7 million in recompete exposure. On federal service contracts captured in SCI, sub-engagement averages 5% of contractor hours, and UC San Diego Health names six subcontractors across prime contracts, indicating the institution primarily builds its own delivery teams rather than operating as a subcontractor feeder.

As a public research university, UC San Diego Health holds no parent contract vehicles (IDIQs, GWACs, or agency-wide BPAs) in its own name; rather, it wins task orders and grant awards under individual solicitations and participates in consortium arrangements such as the NSF AI Institute TILOS Phase II ($3 million cooperative agreement, November 2026) and the UC San Diego Materials Research Science and Engineering Center ($3 million cooperative agreement, September 2026). The institution operates as a subsidiary of the State of California Controllers Office and competes across federal research and education programs without set-aside restrictions, positioning it as a mainstream competitor in merit-based, full-and-open federal procurements and grant competitions.