University Of New Mexico

University Of New Mexico HSC Financial Services Division, doing business as Health Sciences Center, is a state-controlled academic medical center and Hispanic-serving institution that delivers specialized clinical and medical research services to federal healthcare, research, and forensic agencies as a prime contractor (82% of recent awards) and occasional subcontractor on multisite research initiatives. The entity operates as a division of the University of New Mexico, a minority-serving, tax-exempt research university headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and competes in full-and-open federal procurements without set-asides across medical specialties, diagnostic services, and biomedical research.

UNM HSC's federal footprint spans 1,235 awards (combined potential value $1.15 billion, with $2.2 billion obligated across all awards), distributed across 113 distinct customer agencies with particular concentration in NIH-funded biomedical research, VA clinical services, and Indian Health Service care delivery. The National Cancer Institute dominates the dollar value landscape, anchoring 90 awards valued at $834.2 million combined potential value. Veterans Integrated Service Network 22 places 92 awards worth $99.6 million, reflecting UNM HSC's role as the state's principal academic medical center serving the region's veteran population through radiology interpretation, resident training, and specialized surgical services. The Indian Health Service funds 170 awards ($20.7 million combined potential value) for family medicine, telebehavioral health, and autopsy services at sites including Zuni and Mescalero, New Mexico.

Concrete service delivery spans expert testimony and forensic pathology to federal litigation (U.S. Attorney's Offices place 22 expert-witness orders valued under $50,000 each), clinical care for trauma and specialized medical conditions (Veterans Affairs contracts for vascular surgery, radiology, and graduate medical education ranging $850,000 to $2.8 million over multi-year periods), telebehavioral health via telehealth infrastructure ($3.25 million Indian Health Service award for psychiatric evaluation and psychotherapy to tribal and urban-operated clinics nationwide through October 2028), and biomedical research in cancer biology, immunology, neuroscience, and environmental health. Recent representative prime awards include a $3.25 million firm fixed-price purchase order from Indian Health Service for telebehavioral health programming (October 2023–October 2028), a $2.8 million Department of Veterans Affairs definitive contract for vascular surgeon services (January 2026–December 2030), and multiple $1.2–$3.77 million delivery orders from the VA for radiology interpretation and resident training (ongoing). Biomedical research awards include a $2.094 million National Institute of General Medical Sciences grant for coronavirus RNA capping and metabolic pathways (September 2025–August 2029), a $2.8 million National Cancer Institute Program Project grant for endometrial cancer hormone therapy (August 2025–July 2030), and a $5.96 million Defense Health Agency award for behavioral phenotyping and psychedelic therapies for suicide risk (September 2025–August 2029).

Activity has moderated year over year—87 awards in 2025 and 32 in 2026 (year-to-date snapshot)—following a peak of 112 awards in 2024. One hundred four awards with ultimate completion dates within the next twenty-four months (combined potential value $36.3 million) face recompete. On the contract side, UNM HSC holds two single-award indefinite-delivery vehicle agreements with Veterans Integrated Service Network 22 for radiology interpretation and resident training services (ceiling $3.8 million through September 2026, and $4.68 million through March 2026). The entity places multiple delivery orders against these parent contracts and manages task-order work under five HHS Indefinite Delivery Contracts serving IHS and other health programs, with 37 to 11 task orders per vehicle.

Service Contract Inventory captures a narrower slice: SCI-reportable invoiced revenue of $23 million across FY2022–FY2024 ($8.6 million in FY2022, $9.7 million in FY2023, $4.7 million in FY2024), delivered by an average of 30–37 FTEs annually as of FY2023, declining to 20 FTEs by FY2024. Government-paid hourly rates on SCI-reportable services run a median of $136.82/hr, with senior clinical and research labor commanding rates through $305.63/hr. Across SCI-reportable prime contracts, subcontractor hours represent 1% of total delivery, indicating UNM HSC builds its own delivery teams rather than leaning heavily on subs; however, the entity does engage as a subrecipient on multisite NIH research grants and clinical trials, with recent sub-awards from University of Pittsburgh (traumatic injury resuscitation trials), Northwestern University (atrial fibrillation monitoring), Mayo Clinic (cholangiocarcinoma genetics), and Columbia University (immigrant health and cognitive aging research).

Federal grant work extends across the National Institutes of Health ecosystem (NIAID, NIGMS, NIDA, NINDS, NCI, NHLBI, NIEHS), the Defense Health Agency, the Bureau of Justice Assistance, and civilian public health agencies. Representative current grants include infrastructure funding from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences for the Southwest Center for Advancing Clinical and Translational Innovation ($11.15 million cooperative agreement, August 2025–June 2032), an Alzheimer's Disease Research Center grant from the National Institute on Aging ($5.6 million, May 2024–April 2029) focused on underserved Hispanic/Latino and American Indian populations in frontier New Mexico, and training grants including the K12 institutional career development program for clinical translational scientists ($968,541 over five years through July 2030) and the MSTP (Medical Scientist Training Program) for MD/PhD students ($5.2 million, July 2024–June 2029).

UNM HSC competes in full-and-open procurement across all its major customer categories and does not rely on set-asides. The organization's federal contracting posture reflects its status as a public research university and academic medical center; it is neither a small business nor an SBA-certified entity. Federal customers value its institutional infrastructure (research cores, clinical infrastructure, graduate medical education programs), geographic positioning in New Mexico, and capacity to serve underrepresented populations, particularly Hispanic/Latino and Native American/Alaska Native communities. Sub-award activity signals collaborative research leadership across the NIH grant portfolio rather than prime-contractor subcontracting relationships.