University Of Washington

University Of Washington Office Of Sponsored Programs (Grant & Contracts Division) is a research administration entity of a public research university that acts as a prime recipient for over 13,900 federal research awards—contracts, cooperative agreements, and grants—across basic science, applied research, and clinical services domains, with a secondary footprint as a subcontractor on research awards across federal agencies.

The University of Washington is structured as a state-controlled educational institution headquartered in Seattle, with the Office of Sponsored Programs serving as the administrative gateway for the institution's federal research portfolio. The entity competes exclusively in unrestricted (full-and-open) federal research opportunities, receiving awards from 318 distinct federal agencies without reliance on small-business set-asides. The university's research mission spans fundamental science, translational research, clinical trials, and specialized services including academic medical center operations. Recent work includes $22.6 million in Naval Sea Systems Command task orders for undersea research infrastructure (PISCES project, $22.6 million FY26), $6.6 million NASA astrobiology cooperative agreement, multimillion-dollar NIH grants across the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID, $2.72 million program project on multi-tissue Type 2 immune responses), National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute ($1.23 million cardiovascular disease prevention in diabetes research), and ongoing clinical service delivery to the Department of Veterans Affairs ($1.74 billion combined potential value across 285 Naval Sea Systems Command awards and 297 VA contracts in the source).

Customer concentration reflects the research university's reliance on federal research funding. By award count, the National Science Foundation anchors the portfolio with 2,314 awards, followed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) at 1,574 awards, and NASA's Shared Services Center at 837 awards, covering 37% of all awards. By potential value, the top five customers—Naval Sea Systems Command ($1.74 billion), NHLBI ($1.38 billion), Office of Naval Research ($282.7 million), NASA ($232.7 million), and VA Veterans Integrated Service Network 20 ($187.8 million)—account for 78% of the combined $4.93 billion potential value across all awards. The university obligated $23.34 billion against the $4.93 billion potential value, indicating sustained, multi-year performance and reobligations across the portfolio.

Vehicle position reflects the university's access to federal research infrastructure. The top parent vehicles are two Navy indefinite-delivery contracts: N0002421D6400 (99 task orders, $400.5 million) and N0002410D6318 (122 task orders, $169.5 million), supporting undersea research, naval science, and technical development. Additional vehicles include multiple ONR cooperative agreements and NSF research vehicles across CISE, Geosciences, Materials Research, and Biological Sciences divisions. The university does not appear to hold positions on commercial GWACs or civilian agency-wide IDIQs; its federal work flows primarily through agency-specific vehicles, direct grants, and cooperative agreements.

Activity has grown substantially. Over the past five years, annual awards increased from 760 in 2022 to 1,256 in 2024, declining to 950 in 2025 and 329 in 2026 (partial-year). The source captures awards through 2026-12-12, making 2026 figures incomplete. Over the next 24 months, 1,158 awards with combined potential value of $319.2 million reach ultimate completion, creating significant recompete exposure for the university and corresponding opportunity for vendors competing against the university's renewal proposals.

Service Contract Inventory data shows the university's SCI-reportable federal services work generated $23.5 million in invoiced revenue across FY2022–FY2024, with 28.0 FTEs in FY2022, 24.8 FTEs in FY2023, and 36.2 FTEs in FY2024, indicating volatile workforce engagement. Government-paid hourly rates ranged from $64.73 at the 10th percentile to $250.93 at the 90th percentile (median $108.47), reflecting the breadth of the university's labor categories from graduate research assistants and technical staff to senior faculty and specialized clinicians. On federal services contracts, subcontractors accounted for an average of 3% of contractor hours, indicating the university typically builds delivery teams internally rather than relying on extensive subcontracting.

The university's prime footprint dominates: 88% of awards are primes, 12% are sub-awards. Named subcontractors across the prime services portfolio total 31 entities; recent examples include Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute (Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients analytic support, $bridge contract), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (surgical imaging device development and regulatory planning, $sub task order), and University of Pittsburgh (multiple clinical trial sites and traumatic brain injury research). The university also functions as a sub-recipient on NIH and NSF grants where it provides specialized research services—neuroimaging for traumatic brain injury studies, proteomics and transcriptomics analysis, clinical research coordination—leveraging its research infrastructure and faculty expertise.

Federal grant work dominates the portfolio by count and value. Recent grant awards include fundamental research in astrobiology ($6.6 million NASA, five-year), quantum computing complexity theory ($559 thousand NSF CAREER, five years), sustainable biodegradable plastics ($348 thousand NSF CAREER, five years), influenza vaccine optimization ($182 thousand NIAID K01, five years), and clinical research on progress monitoring in youth mental health ($100 thousand NIMH), alongside clinical service grants for residency training in street medicine ($499 thousand Health Resources and Services Administration, five years). Contract work includes both research delivery (task orders against Navy research indefinite contracts) and clinical services to the VA (affiliate physician services across ophthalmology, cardiology, dermatology, and lung transplantation—five-year ceiling of $20.4 million for transplantation alone). The Office of Sponsored Programs administers all federal transactions—contracts, grants, cooperative agreements, and OTAs—serving the university's research community and the affiliated University of Washington Medical Center.