University Of Illinois

University Of Illinois, a public 1862 land-grant research institution and U.S. state government entity headquartered in Urbana, Illinois, operates as a prime contractor to federal agencies across education, biomedical research, space science, and natural resources management, competing full-and-open without set-aside designations across 271 total awards worth a combined $129.1 million in potential value.

The university's customer base spans 42 distinct federal agencies, but concentration is extreme and bifurcated. By award count, the Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service leads with 26 awards, followed by the Department of the Navy Naval Education and Training Command with 25 awards (combined potential value $1.2 million) and NASA Goddard Space Center with 16 awards ($3.2 million combined potential value). By dollar magnitude, however, the portfolio is entirely anchored by a single customer: the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, which accounts for five awards carrying $107.4 million in combined potential value — 88% of the entire portfolio. This concentration reflects specialized biomedical research and vaccine-development capability, likely leveraging the university's advanced instrumentation and bioinformatics infrastructure. The Navy's educational relationship is narrow and recurring: 25 awards (covering tuition and fees for NROTC midshipmen and Navy medical personnel) carry minimal individual values ($17,500 to $238,550 per delivery order), and the university operates these under multiple Navy Basic Ordering Agreements extending through 2031.

The university's capability portfolio reflects its research mission and infrastructure. Representative prime contract work includes a $131,305 Army Reserve Command purchase order (April 2026) to manage IFSAC and NFPA-accredited firefighter training at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin; a $86,382 definitive contract from Veterans Integrated Service Network 12 (May 2024) for 3-Tesla MRI scans at the university's Center for MR Research in Chicago; a $68,265 NOAA purchase order for marine mammal diagnostic health services testing; and a $39,989 NASA grant (awarded April 2023) for interstellar dust research titled "Enabling Interstellar Dust Studies in X-Rays for the Next Decade." The university also holds a single subcontract (September 2024) under Torch Technologies Inc. for technical support to the Army Combat Capabilities Development Command's Systems Simulation Software and Integration Directorate.

Parent vehicles include Basic Ordering Agreement N0018919GZ041 with 14 Navy task orders ($2.2 million combined potential value) and multiple Navy Indefinite Delivery Contracts (N6227197G0056 with 14 task orders for $112,000, N0024409G0040 with 10 task orders for $113,000, and N0018921GZ013 with 9 task orders for $180,000). The university also holds four task orders under a BARDA Animal Model Development 2011–2016 vehicle worth $7.4 million combined potential value. By PSC category, the portfolio splits heavily between Education/Training (tuition and fees, 56 awards), Research and Development in Space Science (35 awards), natural resources and forest management (12 awards), and educational services (8 awards).

Activity has declined: four awards in 2022, six in 2023, eight in 2024, two in 2025, and two in the first quarter of 2026. The university operates with $51.9 million in combined dollars obligated across the portfolio, representing 40% drawdown of combined potential value. Federal grant work centers on NASA Shared Services Center awards for space and astrophysics research. The university competes without set-aside participation and operates as a component of The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois parent organization.