Wayne State University

Wayne State University's Sponsored Project Administration Division, doing business as Wayne State University Physician Group, is a tax-exempt non-profit public research institution based in Detroit, Michigan that acts as a prime recipient and prime contractor for federal research grants and contracts across biomedical sciences, environmental health, and technical domains. The institution competes in full-and-open federal markets without set-aside designations, holding a Basic Ordering Agreement with the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (Department of Defense / Department of Veterans Affairs) valid through May 31, 2035 that frames delivery orders for laboratory animal resources, veterinarian services, tuition, and research support to the VA's Veterans Integrated Service Network 10.

Wayne State's customer base is heavily concentrated in federal research funding. The top five funding agencies account for 42 percent of recent awards. The National Cancer Institute dominates by dollar value (130 awards, $1.23 billion combined potential value), followed by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (41 awards, $173.2 million), Veterans Integrated Service Network 10 (289 awards, $72.7 million), the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (52 awards, $39.5 million), and the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (37 awards, $4.9 million). This concentration reflects the institution's research mission across oncology, maternal and child health, veterinary science, and basic biomedical research. Recent representative awards include a $2.1 million NIH grant for developmental neurotoxic effects of e-cigarette exposure during pregnancy (National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, awarded June 1, 2026), a $16 million NIH construction grant for the Wayne State University Advanced Technology Center consolidating core analytical facilities (Office of the Director, awarded September 15, 2025), a $1.34 million NIAID grant for phage-antibiotic combination therapies against multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (awarded February 13, 2026), and multiple smaller delivery orders under the VA BOA for laboratory animal and veterinary services ($7,056 to $50,756 per task order).

As a prime contractor and prime grant recipient, Wayne State delivers 85 percent of awards as prime and 15 percent as sub-recipient or sub-contractor. The institution operates primarily through its own research and administrative infrastructure rather than relying on subcontractor delivery; across SCI-reportable prime contracts, subcontractors performed approximately 67 percent of total contractor hours, indicating meaningful sub-engagement for specialized support services. Named subcontractors include the Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (phage-antibiotic research collaboration), the Regents of the University of Colorado-Denver (genomic sequencing), Case Western Reserve University (environmental health and genomics training partnership), and numerous other academic and research institutions serving as co-investigators or specialized research collaborators. The institution serves as a sub-recipient on collaborative grants managed by prime recipients including the University of Michigan, Duke University, Georgetown University, and Michigan State University, typically providing biospecimen collection, participant recruitment, data analysis, or specialized research expertise in oncology, neurology, and environmental health.

SCI-reported invoiced revenue on federal service contracts above the $150,000 reporting threshold totaled $22.7 million across FY2022–FY2024 (FY2022: $5.6 million; FY2023: $11.9 million; FY2024: $5.1 million). The SCI dataset captures a small fraction of Wayne State's total federal research footprint and excludes research grants, goods procurement, and non-federal revenue. On SCI-reportable prime contracts, median government-paid rates ran around $260.95 per hour, with senior labor pricing through $343.52 per hour. The institution held a basic ordering agreement (BOA) with VA VISN 10 as the top vehicle, generating 122 task orders valued at $523 thousand combined potential value, alongside Navy IDVs supporting tuition and research logistics ($4.2 million combined across 40 task orders). Award activity peaked in FY2024 (227 awards) and has declined in FY2025–FY2026 (147 and 40 awards respectively), with 178 awards (combined potential value $427 thousand) reaching ultimate completion in the next twenty-four months, creating modest recompete exposure in the near term. Wayne State's primary capability focus centers on biomedical and health sciences research execution, laboratory animal resources and veterinary services, research infrastructure and core facility operations, and federal grant and contract administration across oncology, developmental health, environmental exposures, and basic life sciences domains.