University Of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc.

University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc., operating as UGA Research Foundation, is a non-profit, tax-exempt research institution that serves as the sponsored research and technology transfer arm of the University of Georgia. The organization operates as both a federal grant and contract prime recipient across life sciences, agricultural sciences, environmental research, and basic scientific discovery, with substantial work in infectious disease research, agricultural biotechnology, and materials science. UGA Research Foundation competes in full-and-open federal solicitations without set-aside designations, holding a $151 billion multiple-award IDIQ under the Missile Defense Agency's Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD) initiative running through December 2035.

The foundation's customer base is highly concentrated in federal research agencies. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) anchors the portfolio by award count and combined potential value—247 awards totaling $435.4 million—reflecting deep institutional expertise in infectious disease research, animal models, vaccine development, and pandemic preparedness. The National Science Foundation ranks first by award count across all agencies (771 awards), with particular strength in biological sciences, engineering, and STEM education. The Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) supplies consistent research funding, with 244+ awards across agriculture, forestry, food systems, and aquaculture themes. NASA, NOAA, and NIH's broader portfolio round out the top five customer agencies. The foundation serves 238 distinct federal customer agencies, but the top five account for approximately 38% of recent awards.

Recent capability work spans research infrastructure (animal models for pandemic preparedness, beamline operations at national laboratories, flow cytometry facilities), agricultural innovation (root-knot nematode resistance breeding, heat-stress mitigation in dairy cattle, blueberry ripening physiology, cold tolerance in wheat), infectious disease research (Plasmodium malaria vaccine development, Mycobacterium abscessus lung infection models, influenza vaccine response prediction), environmental science (virus-microbe interactions in sulfate reduction, manufacturing cybersecurity datasets), biotechnology and materials science (glycoprotein characterization via next-generation sequencing, wood preservation using natural antimicrobial compounds), and translational medicine (Cushing's Disease pituitary organoid development, Parkinson's disease neuroinflammation mechanisms). Recent representative awards include $6.3 million from NIDDK for Cushing's Disease pituitary organoid research (Arizona-based performance, sub-awarded to University of Arizona), $1.32 million from NSF for biological clock synchronization in fungal filaments, $1.0 million NIFA grant for alfalfa acid-soil tolerance genetics, and $800 thousand USDA NIFA award for winter wheat cold-tolerance genetic discovery.

SCI-reported federal service contract invoicing from FY2022–FY2024 totaled $50.6 million across the three-year period—$16.2 million in FY2022, $17.9 million in FY2023, and $16.5 million in FY2024. The SCI dataset reflects 38 service contracts (30 as prime, 8 as named subcontractor). Workforce scale varied: 44.8 FTEs in FY2022, 20.5 FTEs in FY2023, and 33.0 FTEs in FY2024 across SCI-reportable contracts. Government-paid hourly rates on federal service contracts ranged from $47.67/hr (10th percentile) to $199.59/hr (90th percentile), with a median of $120.35/hr. These figures capture only service contracts above the $150,000 reporting threshold and exclude grant work, goods, micro-purchases, and classified contracts; the $50.6 million SCI total represents a strict subset of the foundation's total federal revenue, which is substantially larger when including grant awards, contract work below the SCI threshold, and non-federal revenue.

Across SCI-reportable prime contracts, subcontractors averaged 17% of total contractor hours, with 59 named subcontractors reported. This sub-engagement posture indicates a mixed delivery model: the foundation builds core research teams internally while leveraging specialized subcontractors for targeted technical support, particularly in collaborative research initiatives. The foundation's primary federal contracting footprint runs through grants and research contracts, not service-category work; the SCI data represent only a portion of operational activity.

The foundation faces a $224.5 million recompete cliff over the next twenty-four months (344 awards reaching ultimate completion), driven by multi-year research grants and cooperative agreements expiring across NIH, NSF, USDA, and NOAA. Recent activity has decelerated—2025 saw 281 awards versus 370 in 2024—likely reflecting the recompete cycle and the lag between new grant initiations and awards-in-force. The organization operates as a prime contractor on 89% of all awards and as a sub-recipient or subcontractor on 11%, positioning it as a leading research prime rather than a teaming partner. Named teaming relationships include St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (influenza research and response coordination), University of Arizona (Cushing's Disease organoid research), and co-investigator roles on multi-institutional NIH and NSF collaborative awards. The foundation does not maintain prominent parent contract vehicles beyond SHIELD; most work flows through agency-specific grants, cooperative agreements, and competitive solicitations.