The Curators Of The University Of Missouri

The Curators Of The University Of Missouri, doing business as University Of Missouri At Kansas City, a state-controlled public research university, operates as a prime recipient on federal grants and a prime contractor on federal service and research contracts, competing predominantly in full-and-open procurement without set-asides. UMKC is a child entity of the University of Missouri System and serves as the parent organization's regional Kansas City campus, with headquarters at 321 University Hall, Columbia, Missouri.

UMKC's federal footprint centers on research and specialized training delivery. The university holds a $59.2 million Office of Naval Research definitive contract (awarded September 2023, completing September 2029) for the Covert Unmanned Cyber and Countermeasures for Offensive Operations (CUCKOO) program, developing directed energy weapons capabilities through electronic upset and cyber effects, with Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and Northeastern University contributing as major subcontractors. On the training side, UMKC holds multiple Air Force Blanket Purchase Agreements for unmanned aerial vehicle training — a single-award BPA with a $750,000 ceiling extending to June 2029 has generated task orders ranging from $45,000 to $109,900 for Task Force 99 UAV training and related defense services performed in Kansas City, Missouri, Shaw Air Force Base, and internationally (Israel and Qatar). A separate Air Force Central Command Battle Lab BPA ($2.5 million ceiling through April 2027) and additional AFCC ordering vehicles support continued drone training and defense-related technical services. The university also holds a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Other Transaction IDV ($1,820,263 ceiling, awarded March 2025) for the GRASP project on radar advances, and a $93,000 U.S. Forest Service contract (awarded August 2024, extending through August 2029, option year 2 exercised) for archaeological collection curation at the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri.

UMKC's primary federal customer concentration sits with research sponsors. The Department of Health and Human Services National Institutes of Health funds 93 recent awards; the National Science Foundation funds 71 awards. The Department of the Navy's Office of Naval Research dominates dollar value, anchoring the portfolio with the $59.2 million CUCKOO contract, which alone represents 89 percent of the combined potential value across all 666 awards in the source data. Health Resources and Services Administration, the Treasury Internal Revenue Service (primarily Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic grant awards), and the broader Department of Health and Human Services round out the top customer set by award count. The concentration is heavily research-focused — the top five customers by count account for 36 percent of awards, but the Navy contract alone drives 90 percent of combined potential value.

UMKC competes as a prime on research grants and service contracts across NIH, NSF, HRSA, and defense-focused vehicles. Recent grant activity includes a $7.5 million NSF cooperative agreement (awarded August 2026) for the Critical Materials Crossroads Engine in Kansas City to onshore critical materials production capacity; a $1.3 million HRSA Special Projects of National Significance award (September 2026) to serve as the national evaluation provider for the 2026–2029 SPNS initiative on strategies to link, engage, and retain men with HIV in care; a $3.8 million Department of Education Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education award (January 2026) for the APEX AI-Prepared Experiential Credential project; and over 70 smaller NIH research project grants (R01, K08, R21 and similar mechanisms) spanning biomedical sciences, neurology, dental research, cancer biology, and infectious disease research. UMKC also operates as a recipient on workforce development grants — the university received $107,652 from the Department of War (Cyber Service Academy scholarship program, August 2026) and manages AmeriCorps programs funded through the Department of Economic Development Missouri (Lift As You Climb, targeting college persistence for underrepresented students).

Activity peaked in 2024 with 55 awards before declining to 40 in 2025 and 36 in 2026. Forty-four awards with ultimate completion dates in the next twenty-four months carry combined potential value of $40.2 million, presenting material recompete exposure concentrated in grant renewals and BPA task order continuations. UMKC's prime footprint is strong — 87 percent of awards are prime (contracts, IDVs, and grants combined); the university operates as a subcontractor on 13 percent, primarily subawards under NIH and NSF cooperative agreements led by peer institutions. When acting as a sub, UMKC typically contributes specialized research labor — for example, as a sub-recipient to UC San Diego on a DTRA-funded cellular nanosponges project (March 2025, $472,445 subaward) and as a sub to Indiana University on translational control research in Toxoplasma parasites (March 2026, NIH R21).

UMKC's service-contract activity captured in the federal Service Contract Inventory is minimal — the SCI dataset shows zero reported invoiced revenue across FY2022–FY2025 on the small subset of prime SCI-reportable contracts above the $150,000 threshold, with only 3.1 estimated FTEs reported in FY2025. This reflects the university's primary posture as a research institution and grant recipient rather than a federal services contractor. The university does not report significant subcontracting engagement on SCI-reportable primes. SCI is a narrow lens — it excludes the university's substantial research grant and contract revenue, specialized training delivery (which may fall below or outside the SCI reporting scope), and all non-federal enterprise revenue from education, clinical services, and auxiliary operations.

Operationally, UMKC serves as an educational and research prime across civilian health, defense, and science agencies with demonstrated expertise in applied research, specialized workforce training (particularly in defense technologies and UAV operations), biomedical and health sciences research, and community-engaged public health initiatives. The university maintains long-standing relationships with federal agencies, holds multiple standing indefinite-delivery vehicles with the Air Force and DARPA, and manages complex multi-site research networks under NIH cooperative agreements. Recompete activity in the next two years will focus on renewing HRSA grant programs, securing follow-on NIH R01 and cooperative agreement continuations, and securing additional task orders under existing Air Force and Navy research vehicles.