The Urban Institute

The Urban Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit research organization, delivers applied policy research, program evaluation, data analytics, and technical assistance to federal agencies as a prime contractor (97% of recent awards) and occasionally as a subcontractor. The institute competes on full-and-open basis across civilian federal agencies with no SBA set-asides; its work spans social policy, criminal justice, education, housing, health, workforce development, and economic analysis, grounded in quantitative and qualitative research methodologies including microsimulation modeling, survey administration, and implementation science frameworks.

The Urban Institute's customer base is highly concentrated in health and human services. The top five customer agencies by combined potential value account for 55% of all dollars across the portfolio: the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration leads with 124 awards worth $817.1 million combined potential value, followed by HHS Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ($356.2 million across 31 awards), the U.S. Agency for International Development ($298.1 million across 61 awards), the Department of Labor Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy ($122.6 million across 14 awards), and HUD ($73 million across 73 awards). The concentration signal differs between volume and dollars: by award count, ASADMIN and HUD dominate at 124 and 73 awards respectively, but by potential value, CMS and USAID anchor the largest engagements despite smaller award counts, indicating that the institute holds fewer but higher-value positions with those two customers.

The institute's vehicle footprint centers on GSA Multiple Award Schedule delivery orders and blanket purchase agreements. The top parent vehicles are the Federal Supply Schedule GSA23F8198H (101 task orders, $80.8 million combined potential value), an indefinite delivery contract HHSP23320095654WC (53 task orders, $51.4 million), the GSA MAS proper (37 task orders, $223.5 million), and two other IDIQs carrying 36 and 27 task orders respectively. The institute holds a $99 million single-award BPA with the Department of Labor's Chief Evaluation Office through September 2028, a $20.1 million single-award BPA with the Administration for Children and Families for survey administration and Medicaid data linking through December 2025, and a $9.9 million BPA with the Social Security Administration through November 2028, among others. These vehicles signal sustained customer relationships and ability to flex scope rapidly against standing agreements.

Recent contract work illustrates the institute's core capability set. The Department of Labor CEO awarded a $2.1 million BPA call (June 2026) for program evaluation and policy analysis services under the MAS. The Administration for Children and Families issued a $2.5 million firm fixed-price call (March 2026) for Annual Survey of Refugees 2025 data collection and analysis under its $20.1 million BPA. HHS's Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration awarded an $11.8 million time-and-materials delivery order (September 2025) for flexible analytic and technical assistance using comprehensive microsimulation modeling to assess federal health, safety, and economic policies. The Department of Treasury Bureau of the Fiscal Service procured a $95.5 thousand purchase order (November 2025) for monthly state government tax revenue datasets, justified as sole-source based on the institute's proprietary software and technical capabilities. The Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded a $799.8 thousand Project Grant (February 2025) under the Lead Hazard Reduction program (CFDA 14.900) to identify and control lead-based paint hazards in rental and owner-occupied housing.

On the grant side, the institute is a significant federal research recipient across the National Institute of Justice, the Office on Violence Against Women, the Office of Child Care, the Institute of Education Sciences, and the National Science Foundation. Recent grant awards span criminal justice research (randomized controlled trial of the EMPOWER program for elder abuse prevention, $1.74 million from NIJ; evaluation of contraband wireless devices in correctional facilities, $849.4 thousand; study of restorative practices in school safety, multi-site implementation evaluation from NIJ), child care and early education policy research (multiple cooperative agreements on child care subsidy policies, infant and toddler access, and workforce initiatives with the Office of Planning Research and Evaluation), and housing and community development work (neighborhood rental database building real-time rental data infrastructure, $1.85 million NSF project grant beginning April 2025). The institute acts as both prime recipient and sub-recipient; on the prime side it receives awards directly from federal agencies; as a sub-recipient it partners with universities and research intermediaries such as Georgetown University, Research Triangle Institute, NORC at the University of Chicago, and the National Opinion Research Center.

SCI-reported federal service contract invoicing totaled $47.2 million across FY2022–FY2024, with $20.4 million in FY2022 (31.1 FTEs), $13.6 million in FY2023 (42.0 FTEs), and $13.3 million in FY2024 (36.9 FTEs). These are partial snapshots covering only contracts above the $150,000 reporting threshold and excluding grants, goods, and non-federal revenue; the institute's full federal footprint is substantially larger. Government-paid hourly rates on SCI-reportable prime contracts ran a median of $178.07 per hour, with senior labor at the 90th percentile around $346 per hour and entry-level research support around $34 per hour. The institute's GSA Schedule labor portfolio spans 16 categories from Research and Policy Assistant ($81.95/hr, bachelor's degree) through Senior Director and Associate Vice President ($382.46/hr, PhD with 12 years experience); no positions carry security clearance requirements. Across SCI-reported prime contracts, subcontractors performed roughly 17% of total contractor hours on average; the institute named 45 distinct subcontractors across its prime work, signaling a model that builds internal delivery teams while selectively engaging specialized subs for targeted functions such as survey fielding (through SSRS/AUS Marketing Research Systems), health policy analysis (Health Management Associates, American Institutes for Research), and child welfare research (MEF Associates LLC).

The institute conducts most work in Washington, D.C., where its headquarters sits at 500 L'Enfant Plaza SW, though recent grants and contracts specify performance at multiple sites nationally and internationally. Activity has remained steady at 22–32 awards per year over the past five years, with 15 awards (combined potential value $16.3 million) reaching ultimate completion inside the next twenty-four months and facing recompete exposure. The portfolio's primary NAICS concentration is 541611 (Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services) at 291 awards, followed by Research and Development in Social Sciences and Humanities (68 awards) and Other Management Consulting Services (55 awards), reflecting the institute's positioning as a policy research and evaluation services vendor rather than a technology or implementation contractor. The institute does not pursue set-aside awards; its positioning and customer footprint are characteristic of a nonpartisan nonprofit with sustained relationships across multiple civilian federal agencies anchored in research capacity and policy expertise.