University Of Louisiana At Lafayette

University of Louisiana at Lafayette, operating through its Research Office division, is a state-controlled Carnegie R1 research institution that acts as a prime recipient on federal research grants and contracts across scientific and medical research domains, with the Louisiana Board of Regents as its parent entity. The institution receives no set-aside designations and competes in full-and-open federal research funding.

The Research Office's federal footprint centers on basic and applied life sciences research, coastal and environmental science, vaccine development, nonhuman primate research, and STEM education. Representative prime work includes a $12.68 million National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases delivery order awarded on March 16, 2023, for operational support of a nonhuman primate breeding colony serving HIV/AIDS vaccine research at the university's New Iberia Research Center, located in New Iberia, Louisiana; a $827,874 NASA Shared Services Center grant awarded on July 3, 2024, for research on future scenarios of phytoplankton and harmful algal bloom dynamics in the Mississippi-Atchafalaya River System using satellite data and deep learning; and a $650,000 National Science Foundation grant awarded on September 1, 2025, for development of an in-situ laser powder bed fusion additive manufacturing platform with sensor-driven feedback control for advanced metal 3D printing research. The institution also receives substantial awards for STEM teacher education, workforce development, and procurement technical assistance through cooperative agreements and grants from the Department of Education, Department of Defense, and Department of Agriculture.

Customer concentration in the recent award portfolio reflects life sciences and research infrastructure dominance. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases leads by potential value at $137.5 million across 37 awards—anchored by the New Iberia Research Center's vaccine and HIV research programs. The National Science Foundation ranks second by award count with 114 awards but carries modest potential value; its engagement spans mathematical sciences, computer science, engineering, geosciences, and education research. The Department of Education Office of Postsecondary Education places 54 awards for TRIO programs, teacher preparation, and student support services. The U.S. Geological Survey ranks third by count with 52 awards for research support and technical assistance in water resources, coastal ecosystems, and environmental management. Place of performance spans Lafayette, Louisiana (primary administrative and academic site), the New Iberia Research Center (nonhuman primate research and operations), and subordinate cooperative agreement work across Louisiana parishes and field stations.

The Research Office operates as a prime on indefinite delivery contracts and basic ordering agreements, most notably the Indefinite Delivery Contract 99CRBA0001 with 80 task orders valued at $628,000 in combined potential value, and Basic Ordering Agreement ING08PA90042 with 31 task orders valued at $2.5 million. The institution also holds delivery order positions under the Simian Vaccine Evaluation Units master contract (5 task orders, $18.4 million combined potential value) and the Rhesus Macaque Breeding Program 2019 (2 task orders, $19.1 million combined potential value), both issued by NIAID, reflecting its established role in preclinical vaccine and HIV research support.

Activity has expanded substantially; awards per year grew from 35 in 2023 to 66 in 2024, then moderated to 45 in 2025. The SCI dataset shows a narrow slice of the Research Office's total federal footprint: SCI-reportable invoiced revenue ran $4.8 million in FY2022, declined to $2.4–$4.1 million in FY2023–FY2024, and rebounded to $5.2 million in FY2025, with federal workforce scale ranging from 2.4 to 20.1 FTEs by fiscal year. On SCI-reportable prime service contracts, government-paid hourly rates span a wide spectrum—from $81.57/hr at the 10th percentile (likely technical or support labor) to $1,918.98/hr at the 90th percentile (senior research or specialized expertise)—with median rates at $501.62/hr. The Research Office reports zero subcontractor hours across SCI-reportable prime contracts, indicating direct delivery of services rather than reliance on sub-partners for core work. Within the next twenty-four months, 39 awards carrying combined potential value of $31.8 million reach ultimate completion, creating recompete exposure.

The institution acts almost exclusively as a prime (85% of all awards) rather than as a subcontractor, and appears in sub-award roles primarily in collaborative research arrangements with other universities and research institutes. Representative sub-recipients include Stanford University (vaccine and Hepatitis C virus immunogen adjuvant studies, led by Dr. François Villinger at the New Iberia Research Center), the University of Pittsburgh (HIV reservoir and gastrointestinal health research), Duke University (multivalent mRNA HIV vaccine development), and Louisiana State University (small business development, energy transition initiatives, and coastal ecosystem modeling). The Research Office also receives sub-awards as a participant in multi-institution NSF research networks, particularly in marine science, ecology, and quantitative methods research across the Southeast and Gulf region.

The New Iberia Research Center, a specialized operational facility housing a 500–550 nonhuman primate breeding colony, anchors the institution's federal research position in preclinical vaccine evaluation, HIV/AIDS pathogenesis research, and infectious disease studies. This facility supports collaborative programs with NIAID, the Vaccine Research Center, and multiple university research groups, generating substantial grant and contract revenue. The university's broader research portfolio spans environmental monitoring and remote sensing (phytoplankton dynamics, wetland ecosystem function, flood resilience), computational materials science (advanced manufacturing, semiconductor processing, photochemistry), mathematical sciences (topology, operator algebras, ecological modeling), STEM education and workforce development (teacher preparation, AI literacy, biotechnology industry pipeline), and regional economic development through small business centers and procurement technical assistance programs operated under federal cooperative agreements.