Board Of Regents Of The University Of Nebraska

Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska, University of Nebraska Medical Center Division, a state-controlled academic research and medical education institution based in Omaha, Nebraska, operates as a prime recipient on federal grants and a prime contractor on federal service contracts and research awards, with no set-aside designation—it competes in full-and-open federal research and medical education markets. The division is a child entity within the University of Nebraska system.

UNMC's federal footprint centers on biomedical research, medical training and education, and specialized medical services delivery to federal agencies. The institution acts primarily as a research grant recipient and research services contractor, with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) dominating its customer base: the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases leads by combined potential value at $108.5 million across 108 awards; the National Cancer Institute anchors 158 awards; and the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institute on Aging, and National Institute of General Medical Sciences together account for substantial volume and dollars. The Department of the Army Training and Doctrine Command stands as the largest military customer, with $13.8 million across 41 awards, primarily delivery orders for Interservice Physician Assistant Program university affiliation services. The Defense Health Agency places 58 awards valued at $4.6 million. Recent representative contract work includes a $250,000 NIH Gateway to Research Opportunities for the Workforce (GROW) Program delivery order (July 2026) supporting workforce development for American Indian and Alaska Native high school students; Army TRADOC delivery orders ranging from $88,000 to $170,940 for physician assistant program affiliation services (FY25–FY26); a $3.0 million Air Force Research Laboratory purchase order for Phase I of the 711 HPW USAFSAM/ET Infectious Disease Air Transport Course (September 2024); and a $600,000 Department of Veterans Affairs option-year purchase order for mucin antibodies analysis supporting colorectal cancer research (May 2025).

Federal grant activity dominates the award portfolio. UNMC operates as a prime recipient on NIH project grants, cooperative agreements, and training awards spanning oncology, infectious disease, neuroscience, cardiovascular health, aging, and drug abuse research. Recent examples include grants from the National Eye Institute ($1.267 million for mpox-related ocular disease clinical and molecular biomarker surveillance, August 2026), the National Institute on Aging ($1.287 million for interpersonal connectedness in spousal care dyads with Alzheimer's disease, September 2025), the National Institute on Drug Abuse ($544 thousand for microglial ferritinophagy in HIV and cocaine-mediated neuroinflammation, May 2026), and the National Cancer Institute ($948.6 million for real-world effectiveness of smoking cessation aids, August 2026). A $7.73 million cooperative agreement from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (September 2025 through September 2030) positions UNMC as the lead recipient for the National Emerging Special Pathogens Training and Education Center (NETEC), a consortium cooperative agreement in partnership with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Johns Hopkins University, University of Minnesota, Massachusetts General Hospital, Emory University, Denver Health, Nebraska Medicine, and University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. UNMC also received $1.992 million from the Health Resources and Services Administration (September 2025) to establish and operate the Rural Nebraska Nursing Fellows program, a workforce development initiative for rural acute and long-term care facilities.

The top five federal agencies by award count account for 36% of awards: NIH's central office (227 awards), the National Cancer Institute (158 awards), the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (108 awards, $108.5 million), the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (73 awards), and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (67 awards). The Army Training and Doctrine Command, Defense Health Agency, Veterans Integrated Service Network 23, and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke round out the major customers. Concentration in NIH reflects UNMC's research university mission; the Army and Veterans Affairs relationships reflect the institution's role in military and veterans medical training and health services.

Place of performance spans Omaha, Nebraska (primary administrative and research location) with subordinate clinical and training sites in San Antonio and San Diego as part of the Interservice Physician Assistant Program network and other military training partnerships. Research performance occurs internationally where required for clinical trials and field studies.

SCI-reported service contract invoicing reached $2.5 million in FY2023 and $875 thousand in FY2024 across relatively small contractor teams (2.5 to 10.4 FTEs), reflecting a limited slice of the institution's federal services activity. The median government-paid hourly rate across prime contracts was $94.37/hr, with senior labor priced through $548.44/hr and entry-level rates around $21.90/hr. Across SCI-reportable prime contracts, subcontractors accounted for 2% of total hours, with three named subcontractors appearing in the dataset—indicating that UNMC builds most of its delivery teams internally rather than subcontracting.

Awards with completion dates in the next twenty-four months total $13 million in combined potential value across 177 awards, representing moderate recompete exposure in FY2026 and FY2027. The institution faces a $13.8 million recompete window on Army affiliation services and related IDC vehicles as current task orders expire.