University Of Florida

The University of Florida Division of Sponsored Research, a U.S. government entity and 1862 land-grant institution headquartered in Gainesville, Florida, operates as a prime recipient of federal research contracts and grants across a diverse portfolio spanning basic research, applied science, and technology development. The division functions primarily as a research administrator and prime awardee (86% of recent awards), delivering research and development services across multiple federal agencies rather than as a commercial vendor or subcontractor.

The division's customer base spans 294 distinct federal agencies, with concentration among research sponsors: the National Science Foundation leads by award count (1,503 awards), while the National Institutes of Health (NIAID specifically carries $161.4 million combined potential value across 259 awards) and NASA Shared Services Center ($106.1 million across 352 awards) anchor dollar concentration. This fragmented customer base reflects the institution's role as a research university conducting federally sponsored investigations across dozens of scientific domains rather than a contractor serving a core customer set. No single agency represents more than about 15% of recent awards by count or value, and the top five customers collectively represent only 32% of awards and 42% of potential value.

Activity has grown modestly over the past five years—661 awards in 2023 rising to 891 in 2024—though 2025 and 2026 show reduced award counts (704 and 476 respectively), potentially reflecting delayed grant notifications or portfolio churn as older awards complete. Combined potential value across all awards reaches $643 million, though the source documents obligated dollars of $9.71 billion (1510% of potential value), a signal that the potential-value field in the source carries ceiling or target values rather than actual obligation amounts for a mature, multi-year portfolio. Recompete exposure in the next 24 months is $75.3 million across 883 awards, representing active renewal and competition risk.

Recent prime contract awards highlight the division's research capability breadth: a $1.667 million five-year firm-fixed-price definitive contract from the FDA (September 2026) for mechanistic evaluation of oral peptide absorption using organoid-based new approach methodologies for bioequivalence assessment; a $1.45 million cost-plus-no-fee delivery order from the Air Force Research Laboratory (January 2026) for Guidance, Navigation and Control Flight Laboratory Operations at Eglin Air Force Base; and a $2.05 million cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery order from the Air Force (December 2025) for continued GNC Flight Laboratory Operation Phase II. These awards characterize the division's positioning: delivery of research infrastructure support, applied science for regulatory modernization, and aerospace engineering research rather than commercial goods or IT services.

The division's grant footprint dominates its federal activity. The source documents over 200 federal grant awards as prime recipient across NIH institutes (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Cancer Institute, National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, National Institute on Aging), NSF divisions (Biological Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences, Engineering Education), USDA (National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service), Department of Defense (Defense Health Agency, Army Corps of Engineers Materiel Command), and civilian agencies (Department of Commerce, Institute of Museum and Library Services, Institute of Education Sciences). Recent grant work spans mechanistic biology and infectious disease (a $488,238 NIAID award on Staphylococcus aureus nitric oxide synthase impacts on survival in host environments; a $1.499 million Defense Health Agency award on enhancing immunotherapy in triple-negative breast cancer), plant science and agricultural resilience (NSF awards totaling $949,781 on genome doubling and polyploid phenotypes, and $299,638 on salinity tolerance in papaya germplasm under USDA AFRI), climate and environmental science (NSF awards on Florida sea-breeze convection dynamics, extreme weather events and insect abundances), and neurodegenerative disease (NIH awards on chronic traumatic encephalopathy diagnostics, Parkinson's disease therapeutics, and age-related cognitive decline).

The division holds one identified Other Transaction Indefinite Delivery Vehicle: a multi-award OT-IDV from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (EL-HAB-2025-0051) with a $1.062 million ceiling for research and development of Nanobubble Ozone Treatment technology targeting cyanobacteria harmful algal blooms. The vehicle enables task-order issuance as research requirements emerge, reflecting the flexible acquisition posture suited to exploratory R&D. No GWACs, BPAs, or traditional GSA Schedules appear as parent vehicles in the source; instead, the division's contract work routes primarily through direct federal award issuance and smaller blanket purchase agreements.

The division functions predominantly as a prime on its own research awards and rarely as a subcontractor to other institutions. Sub-award data shows 1,345 sub-awards (14% of total awards), but these are largely pass-through grants where the division receives a prime grant award and subcontracts portions to collaborating universities (Auburn University, Triad National Security LLC at Los Alamos, Florida Atlantic University, University of Pittsburgh, Mayo Clinic, and dozens of others). This pattern reflects standard academic research collaboration and cost-sharing rather than a commercial subcontracting footprint. The division receives sub-awards when it serves as a collaborator on grants led by other research institutions, documented in the source as sub-recipient roles on NIH awards, NSF collaborative research projects, and USDA cooperative agreements.

Service Contract Inventory data, which captures federal service contracts above the $150,000 reporting threshold, shows SCI-reportable invoiced revenue of $18.7 million across FY2022–FY2025 as a prime contractor (35 SCI records) with an additional 15 sub-records where the division is named as a subcontractor. Federal-service staffing ramped from 9.5 FTEs in FY2025 to highs of 14.1 FTEs in FY2024, with average SCI invoicing of $4–5.6 million per fiscal year. Median government-paid hourly rates on SCI prime contracts stand at $106.57/hour, with a range from $8.66/hour (10th percentile) to $248.84/hour (90th percentile), typical of academic research labor spanning graduate students, technicians, postdoctoral fellows, and research scientists. Sub-engagement on prime contracts averages 9% of total contractor hours, indicating the division performs most contracted work with internal staff rather than relying on sub-vendor networks. Named subcontractors in SCI records total 22 entities, predominantly other research institutions rather than commercial firms.

The division competes under no small-business set-aside categories; all source awards carry "No Set-Aside Used" designations, a characteristic of federal research funding where the university's status as a large, state-controlled institution of higher learning does not qualify it for 8(a), HUBZone, WOSB, or other contracting set-asides. As a government entity rather than a for-profit business, the division is not eligible for most SBA certifications and does not compete for set-aside contracts—it receives direct federal funding as a recognized research institution.

The division's capability portfolio, grounded in its award history, centers on basic and applied research across life sciences, engineering, physical sciences, and environmental science rather than commercial services or products. Concrete competencies include aerodynamics and flight laboratory operations (Air Force work), regulatory-science research for FDA modernization, oncology and immunotherapy development (cancer biology and immunology research), infectious disease mechanisms (virology, bacteriology, microbiology), plant genetics and breeding (crop resilience, genetic markers), climate and atmospheric science, neuroscience and neurodegeneration, metabolomics and imaging mass spectrometry, and data science / AI applications to scientific problems. The division operates research facilities including HiPerGator, a high-performance computing cluster supporting large-scale data analysis and machine learning across its portfolio. It administers multiple centers of excellence—the Fixel Institute for Neuromuscular Disease, the McKnight Brain Institute, the Pain Research and Intervention Center of Excellence (PRICE), the Institute on Aging, and the Florida Automated Weather Network (FAWN)—that anchor research collaboration, training, and service delivery to federal sponsors.

Strategic positioning reflects the division's identity as a major research university pursuing federal funding rather than a contractor seeking commercial revenue. Recompete risk in the next 24 months ($75.3 million across 883 awards) represents normal grant portfolio churn as multi-year awards reach renewal points; this is characteristic of academic research institutions, where grants run three to five years with anticipated recompetition or continuation. The division's stable, moderate SCI-invoiced revenue ($4–5.6 million/year) suggests a focused service-contract footprint supporting specific sponsored research activities rather than a commercial services business. Teaming relationships appear principally as collaborative sub-awards where the division partners with other universities (University of Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Mayo Clinic, and others) on multi-institutional grants, a standard practice in federally funded research consortia and cooperative agreements.