University Of Nebraska

University of Nebraska At Omaha, a public research institution and child entity of the University of Nebraska system, operates as a prime contractor and grant recipient delivering national security research, applied scientific analysis, and educational services to federal agencies with no set-aside designations, competing full-and-open across defense, homeland security, and civilian research portfolios.

UNO's federal footprint centers on terrorism prevention, threat assessment, and counterterrorism research anchored by its lead role in the National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center (NCITE), a Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence. The institution delivers concrete capabilities in threat analysis and emerging-activity research, counterterrorism program evaluation, extremist radicalization studies, and interdisciplinary STEM research spanning biomechanics, AI/machine learning, cybersecurity, and materials science. Recent prime contract work includes a $1.8 million cost-plus-no-fee delivery order from DHS S&T Directorate for research on disrupting cartels and transnational criminal organizations (September 2025), a $1.5 million delivery order for research on emerging criminal and terrorist group activity (September 2025), a $1.4 million Office of Naval Research firm fixed-price award for development of an Automated Resuscitation Catheter for hemorrhage control with Resolution Medical LLC subcontracting device design (August 2025), and a $4 million Army Engineer Research and Development Center definitive contract for Smart Analytics for Critical Infrastructure Inside a Resilient Data Fabric with University of New Hampshire and Kinnami Software Corporation as subcontractors (January 2023). UNO also holds a $10 million single-award Basic Ordering Agreement with DHS S&T Directorate running through June 2031 under which task orders are issued for NCITE research and program support.

Customer concentration runs heavily toward DHS and research-focused civilian agencies. DHS S&T Directorate anchors the funding profile with 19 awards and $80.8 million combined potential value. NASA's Shared Services Center places 45 awards with $23.1 million potential value, primarily cooperative agreements for STEM workforce development and in-space technology demonstration. The National Science Foundation leads by award count with 52 grants across computer science, STEM education, and biological sciences. The top five customer agencies account for 30% of recent awards, with DHS S&T and NASA dominating dollar potential. The two rankings diverge somewhat—DHS drives higher-value individual awards while NSF and NIH place greater numbers of lower-value project grants—signaling sustained engagement across both mission-critical security work and foundational research support.

UNO serves as prime on 445 awards (84%) and subcontractor on 84 (16%), indicating primary responsibility for federal deliverables. Across SCI-reportable prime service contracts above the $150,000 threshold, the university invoiced $14.3 million in federal service revenue spanning FY2022–FY2025: $1 million in FY2022, $4.4 million in FY2023, $5.1 million in FY2024, and $3.7 million in FY2025. The SCI dataset shows roughly 0.5 FTEs in FY2022, 6.6 FTEs in FY2023, 11.7 FTEs in FY2024, and 8.1 FTEs in FY2025 delivered to federal government service contracts captured in SCI. On federal services contracts, government-paid rates ran around a median of $130/hr, with senior labor pricing through $274/hr and rates as low as $58/hr for junior or support positions. Across SCI-reportable prime contracts, subcontractors performed roughly 29% of total contractor hours, with 29 named subs engaged across the prime portfolio—a teaming posture reflecting moderate reliance on specialized research partners and implementation vendors rather than internal-only delivery.

UNO's subcontracting footprint includes recurring partnerships with the National Strategic Research Institute (terrorism and WMD research), Phase V Technologies Inc. (cartel disruption research), Resolution Medical LLC (medical device development), the Research Foundation for the State University of New York (soft-target risk assessment), and North Carolina State University (complementary research expertise on DHS task orders). The university also operates as a sub-recipient on interdisciplinary projects anchored by the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska and other research universities managing multi-institutional NSF and NIH awards.

Federal grant activity spans research and education missions across NSF, NIH, NASA, the Department of Education, and the Department of Defense. Representative recent grants include a $5.9 million NSF Integrative Activities award (August 2026) to establish the Nebraska Center for 3D Innovation (NE3D), a multidisciplinary initiative spanning biomimetic design, additive manufacturing, and AI-driven anatomical modeling with partners including the University of Nebraska Medical Center, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Shabri LLC; a $223 thousand NIBIB award (July 2026) for development of near-infrared probes for ovarian cancer imaging; a $1.4 million DoD Cooperative Agreement (May 2026) to establish an APEX Accelerator providing procurement technical assistance to business entities; a $3.4 million NASA Cooperative Agreement (June 2025) for the Nebraska Space Grant program supporting STEM workforce development; and a $750 thousand NASA Cooperative Agreement (August 2022) for femtosecond laser functionalization of cryogenic fluid management surfaces. UNO acts as prime recipient on education and research grants and as sub-recipient on collaborative research efforts through the Board of Regents and other lead institutions.

Recent activity shows 23 awards in 2026 (year-to-date through September), 41 in 2025, 47 in 2024, 32 in 2023, and 32 in 2022, indicating sustained high volume with modest year-to-year fluctuation. Twenty-seven awards (combined potential value $8.4 million) reach ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, creating recompete exposure across DHS NCITE task orders, education grants, and research infrastructure support agreements. UNO's location in Omaha, Nebraska, with work performance concentrated at the Omaha campus, positions it as a regionally anchored research institution with national-scope federal engagement in counterterrorism, STEM education, and interdisciplinary applied science.