University Of Florida

The University of Florida Division of Sponsored Research operates as a public research institution administering federal grant and contract awards to the university as prime recipient and contractor, functioning across 293 federal funding agencies with a footprint spanning basic research, applied science, and educational infrastructure investment. The division manages a mature, high-volume federal award portfolio—9,709 total awards (87% as prime) valued at $641.4 million in combined potential value, with $9.5 billion obligated across the portfolio lifecycle, reflecting decades of sustained federal research investment anchored primarily in life sciences, physical sciences, and engineering research disciplines.

The National Science Foundation leads the customer base by award count (1,489 awards), followed by the National Institutes of Health (580 awards) and the Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (764 combined awards across two named entities). However, NIAID anchors the largest single-agency dollar concentration at $161.4 million across 249 awards, with NASA's Shared Services Center placing $106.1 million across 352 awards—predominantly the "Execute a Balanced Science Program" vehicle funding basic research across multiple agencies. The top five customers account for 33% of award count and 42% of potential value, indicating moderate concentration: the division maintains broad customer diversification across defense, civilian research, and space agencies while sustaining depth in life sciences funding channels.

Award activity has grown substantially year-over-year from 589 awards in 2022 to 887 in 2024, moderating to 708 in 2025 and declining to 235 through December 2026 (a partial-year reporting artifact). Recent prime awards demonstrate the division's research scope: a $4.01 million USDA Specialty Crop Research Initiative award (July 2026–June 2030) addressing Neopestalotiopsis pathogen threats to strawberry production through detection and mitigation strategies; a $901.6 million NSF Environmental Biology award (July 2026–June 2029) on mammalian dietary evolution using AI and natural language processing; a $652.4 million Defense Health Agency award (July 2026–June 2029) on breast cancer proteomics; and a $1.76 million NIDA award (April 2026–December 2030) developing an agentic AI system for optimizing HIV clinical care continua. Recompete exposure in the next 24 months totals 872 awards worth $76.2 million in combined potential value—a moderate cliff requiring active business development.

Service Contract Inventory data (FY2022–FY2024) shows $14.7 million in invoiced federal service contract revenue across 36 reportable contracts, with SCI-captured workforce hovering between 11–14 FTEs across the three-year window. Median government-paid hourly rates on federal services work run $102.32/hr, with senior labor pricing to $265/hr and entry rates near $39/hr, reflecting a tiered workforce spanning doctoral researchers, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and technical support staff. Subcontractor engagement on prime contracts averages 11% of hours, with 17 named subcontractors identified across the SCI dataset—the division predominantly builds delivery through employed researchers rather than subcontracted labor, characteristic of research institutions. The modest SCI footprint relative to total award count and obligated value reflects the nature of the awards: federal grants and cooperative agreements drive the majority of the division's federal revenue and represent the core transactional relationship, while service contracts above the $150k threshold represent specialized add-on work.

The division's prime/sub split (87% prime, 13% sub) and its role as the contracting and grant-administering entity for a major public research university position it as a research facilitator rather than a specialty contractor or subcontractor to defense or commercial primes. Recent sub-awards place the university as a research partner within NIH, NSF, and USDA consortia led by peer research institutions (University of Pennsylvania, Stanford, Johns Hopkins, Oregon State), reflecting typical academic collaborative structures. The division does not compete for or hold significant positions on government-wide contract vehicles (GWACs, IDIQs, BPAs); its top parent vehicles are small-dollar IDCs and BPAs unique to specific agencies (Air Force, USDA) rather than government-wide acquisition frameworks. This profile—high volume of discretionary federal research funding routed through grants and cooperative agreements, limited commercial prime contractor relationships, and modest service contract activity—is consistent with a research institution's primary federal funding mechanism rather than a federal contractor pursuing commercial government work.