Utah State University

Utah State University, operating as USU, a 1862 land-grant public research institution headquartered in Logan, Utah, delivers research, extension, and diagnostic services to the federal government as a direct prime contractor (92% of recent awards) across agricultural sciences, biomedical research, environmental resource management, aerospace technology, and STEM education. USU competes full-and-open across its federal footprint without pursuing set-aside categories, maintaining a 3,539-award prime position against 324 subcontractor engagements across a 3,863-award federal footprint spanning 241 distinct customer agencies over the past several years.

The university's recent customer concentration reflects diversified exposure across agencies with different funding scales. The Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture leads by award count (341 awards), followed by the National Science Foundation (306 awards) and the Department of the Air Force (264 awards); however, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases dominates by potential value at $312.3 million combined (95 awards), establishing USU as a significant federal biomedical research recipient alongside NASA's Shared Services Center ($19.9 million, 86 awards) and the Bureau of Land Management ($9.2 million, 42 awards). This split—volume concentrated in NIFA and NSF grant work versus dollars anchored in NIAID biomedical research—signals a capability portfolio spanning agricultural extension and basic research alongside infectious disease modeling and vaccine development.

Concrete capability examples span the portfolio. USU holds a $1.63 million cost-no-fee delivery order from NIAID (award date September 28, 2026) for interventional agent testing against high-containment viruses under the Pre-Clinical Models of Infectious Diseases IDIQ, running through September 2027. The university provides animal health laboratory diagnostic services to USDA Veterinary Services, delivering highly pathogenic avian influenza testing, scrapie testing, and foreign animal disease diagnostics through National Animal Health Laboratory Network delivery orders totaling over $300,000 across multiple fiscal years. Environmental sciences work includes a Bureau of Land Management Aquatic Resources Program indefinite delivery vehicle worth $2 million ceiling through April 2030, under which seven task orders have been issued for water quality analysis, macroinvertebrate identification, and laboratory services across BLM regional offices. A $804,708 delivery order from Naval Sea Systems Command (award date March 11, 2026) procured biomaterial protein and fiber development under an indefinite delivery vehicle valued at $4.1 million, completing November 2026.

SCI-reported invoiced revenue across federal service contracts captures $9.2 million in FY2022–FY2025 activity (58 prime records reporting), spanning 26.1 FTEs in FY2022, declining to 9.9 FTEs in FY2025. The trajectory reflects shift in contract portfolio composition rather than university contraction; obligated dollars across all federal awards total $2.16 billion (364% of combined potential value), indicating substantial carryover of multi-year grants and long-term research awards. On federal service contracts captured in SCI, government-paid hourly rates run a median of $71.26 per hour, with senior labor pricing reaching the 90th percentile at $183.88 per hour.

Federal grant activity dominates the award portfolio by count and recency. NIFA supports the university as a prime recipient across formula grants (Hatch Act, Smith-Lever cooperative extension, McIntire-Stennis forestry research) and competitive awards (Agriculture and Food Research Initiative). Recent AFRI project grants include $637,000 for a Summer Undergraduate Agricultural Biotechnology Research Experience program (September 1, 2026, through August 31, 2030), $749,984 for pesticide risk assessments on solitary bee species (August 1, 2026), and $780,000 for K-12 STEM education and agriscience pathways (May 1, 2026, through April 30, 2029). NSF funds fundamental research across Geosciences, Biological Sciences, Engineering, Mathematical Sciences, and STEM Education programs; recent awards include $580,185 for machine learning approaches to solar energetic particle event prediction (March 15, 2026), $425,000 for photochemistry of wildfire-generated polycyclic aromatic compounds in surface waters (January 1, 2027), and $400,820 for AI frameworks for STEM problem-solving instruction (August 1, 2026, through July 31, 2031). The National Institutes of Health funds biomedical research including $601,319 on Shigella virulence and type-three secretion systems (June 22, 2026, through May 31, 2031) and $430,379 on entrainment-based interventions for Parkinson's disease communication (May 15, 2026, through March 31, 2028).

The university operates across five top indefinite-delivery parent vehicles carrying $1.8–$723 thousand combined potential value per vehicle. Task-order activity under these IDIVs includes 49 to 33 orders per vehicle across research and service categories; the vehicles support delivery of laboratory services, environmental monitoring, and research support across multiple federal departments.

The university's subcontractor footprint is minimal by financial share—across SCI-reportable prime contracts, subcontractors perform an average 4% of total contractor hours—and USU operates predominantly as a delivery prime rather than as a feeder to larger contractors. Named subcontractor relationships in the source include engagement with Leidos on Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management macroinvertebrate and water-quality work and teaming on defense-related research through Booz Allen Hamilton and other prime contractors on isolated projects. The university also acts as a sub-recipient on federal grants; recent examples include sub-awards under University of Alabama CIROH (Cooperative Institute for Research to Operations in Hydrology) projects on water data assimilation and hydrologic prediction, work under Vanderbilt University on special education teacher training for behavioral interventions, and sub-recipient status under Rutgers and Ohio State University grants on ecosystem research and behavioral science.

A corporate structure block names subsidiaries including Utah State University Space Dynamics Laboratory (a nonprofit organization and manufacturer) and Utah State University Aspire Foundation, signaling specialized research capability in aerospace systems and technology transfer; the Space Dynamics Laboratory holds a separate federal contracting posture and generates independent awards under different management structures, though the source does not provide detailed subsidiary award breakdowns.

Recompete exposure in the next twenty-four months totals 149 awards valued at $17 million combined potential value, centered in formula grant renewals from NIFA and competitive research renewals across NSF and NIH cycles. The university's federal revenue footprint is substantially larger than SCI captures—formula grants, interdisciplinary research, extension programming, and multi-year cooperative agreements with state and federal agencies anchor long-term revenue streams not fully reflected in service contract inventory. USU's positioning as a 1862 land-grant institution with direct contracting relationships to NIFA, NSF, NIH, NASA, DoD, and Interior bureaus reflects statutory mission alignment rather than competitive procurement advantage; the absence of set-aside awards and the breadth of customer concentration across research and extension functions distinguish USU from commercial federal contractors and position it as a research and capacity-building partner to federal agencies rather than a prime systems integrator or defense contractor.