Federal contractor · PITTSBURGH, PA

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY received $85M in federal contract obligations in FY2026, on 6 awards (−36% vs FY2025). Since FY2017: $1.3B. Its largest customer was Department of the Air Force ($85M).

Obligations · FY2026
$85M
New awards
6
Sole-source
100%
Single offer
0.0%
UEI
G4P3TF8PFH73
Parent company
CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY
Other than small businessNonprofitEducational institution
Open in the contracts explorerRelationship graph

Company family

Grouped from reported parent companies (UEI) and, where marked, AI judgments that two records name the same organization or group.

3 registered entities of the same company or corporate group, $94.3M in FY2026 together.

  1. CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITYPITTSBURGH, PA · Family page
    $85M
  2. CARNEGIE-MELLON UNIVERSITYPITTSBURGH, PA
    $9.2M
  3. CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITYPITTSBURGH, PA
    $0

Spending by fiscal year

Obligations per federal fiscal year (October–September).

  1. 150.3MFY2017
  2. 129.1MFY2018
  3. 138.1MFY2019
  4. 136.3MFY2020
  5. 131.7MFY2021
  6. 127.1MFY2022
  7. 139.2MFY2023
  8. 164.7MFY2024
  9. 133.4MFY2025
  10. 85MFY2026

Top buying agencies

Obligations in FY2026.

  1. Department of the Air Force$85M100%
    5 awards
  2. Federal Railroad Administration-$9,9500.0%
    1 awards

What was bought · Where the work was performed

Obligations in FY2026.

What was bought

  1. Research & development$85M100%

Where the work was performed

  1. Allegheny County, PA$84.8M99.8%
  2. Fulton County, GA$200K0.2%

Integrity signals

Shares of the year's obligations, next to the country's.

  • Low competition100%
    US 39% · $85M
  • Sole-source awards100%
    US 30% · $85M
  • Single-offer competitions0.0%
    US 8.7% · $0
  • Urgency justifications0.0%
    US 5.1% · $0

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Agencies awarding it sole-source contracts

  1. Department of the Air Force$85M
    Department of Defense · 1 awards

Largest awards

  1. CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY SOFTWARE ENGINEERING INSTITUTE FFRDC RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT$414M
    Department of the Air Force· Allegheny County, PA· Research & development· Feb 10, 2020 – Jun 11, 2026· FA870220F0001
  2. OPERATION OF THE CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY SOFTWARE ENGINEERING INSTITUTE FEDERALLY FUNDED RESEACH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER.$66.7M
    Department of the Air Force· Allegheny County, PA· Research & development· Jun 23, 2025 – Jun 23, 2026· FA870225FB035
  3. CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY SOFTWARE ENGINEERING INSTITUTE FFRDC RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT$55.4M
    Department of the Air Force· Allegheny County, PA· Research & development· Sep 28, 2021 – Apr 22, 2026· FA870221F0005
  4. CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY SOFTWARE ENGINEERING INSTITUTE FFRDC RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT$17.9M
    Department of the Air Force· Allegheny County, PA· Research & development· Jan 13, 2026 – Apr 27, 2026· FA870226FB002
  5. CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY SOFTWARE ENGINEERING INSTITUTE FFRDC RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT$4.7M
    Department of the Air Force· Allegheny County, PA· Research & development· Aug 25, 2025 – May 7, 2026· FA870225FB036
  6. NEW CONTRACT FOR STUDY OF FORMAL VERIFICATION TECHNIQUES TO MATHEMATICALLY GUARANTEE SAFETY IN NEXT GENERATION POSITIVE TRAIN CONTROL (PTC) SYSTEMS.$662.9K
    Federal Railroad Administration· Allegheny County, PA· Research & development· Sep 9, 2020 – Jul 30, 2026· 693JJ620C000025

Subawards

Matched by Unique Entity ID: the first-tier subawards this organization reported as a prime recipient, and those primes reported paying it.

As a prime: who it pays · FY2026

  • Sub-contracts: $5.8M (37 subawards)

25 sub-recipients

  1. JOURNEYED.COM, INC.$941.2K16%
    ALLEN, TX · 2 subawards
  2. F J BUSSE CO INC$902.2K16%
    PITTSBURGH, PA · 1 subaward
  3. EPLUS TECHNOLOGY, INC.$506.2K8.8%
    HERNDON, VA · 4 subawards
  4. GOVSMART, INC.$420.3K7.3%
    CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA · 3 subawards
  5. DELL FEDERAL SYSTEMS L.P$348.6K6.0%
    ROUND ROCK, TX · 5 subawards
  6. CROWN CASTLE FIBER LLC$310.3K5.4%
    HOUSTON, TX · 1 subaward
  7. CHRONICLE LLC$288.3K5.0%
    MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA · 1 subaward
  8. CARPENTER CONNECTION INC$250K4.3%
    PITTSBURGH, PA · 1 subaward
  9. FRONTIER PRECISION, INC$177K3.1%
    BISMARCK, ND · 2 subawards
  10. SENTRY FORCE SECURITY LLC$166K2.9%
    FAIRFAX, VA · 1 subaward

As a sub-recipient: who pays it · FY2026

  • Sub-grants: $123K (1 subaward)

1 prime

  1. ALBERT EINSTEIN COLLEGE OF MEDICINE$123K100%
    BRONX, NY · 1 subaward

Its reported sub-contracts equal 6.8% of its FY2026 contract obligations.

By fiscal year

  • FY2021: $12.5M paid out · $0 received
  • FY2022: $5.9M paid out · $796.8K received
  • FY2023: $6.4M paid out · $243.2K received
  • FY2024: $13.9M paid out · $836K received
  • FY2025: $7.7M paid out · $826.8K received
  • FY2026: $5.8M paid out · $123K received

Primes report first-tier subawards of $30,000 or more themselves, and many go unreported (GAO-24-106214). Reporting moved from FSRS to SAM.gov in March 2025 and fewer sub-contracts have been reported since. Amounts are what primes reported; they are never added to prime award totals.

Source: Subawards (first-tier sub-contracts and sub-grants reported under FFATA) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov (reports filed in SAM.gov, formerly FSRS)), data current to Oct 9, 2026, loaded Oct 9, 2026 · Subawards loaded from FY2021.

Teaming partners

Companies this company reported paying, primes that reported paying it, from FFATA subaward reports.

Companies it pays

357 companies · $233M reported

  1. UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH - OF THE COMMONWEALTH SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION$19.1M
    PITTSBURGH, PA · 196 subawards · Scientific research and development services
  2. GENOME RESEARCH LIMITED$10.5M
    SAFFRON WALDEN, GBR · 2 subawards
  3. UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS$8.5M
    URBANA, IL · 22 subawards

Primes that pay it

136 companies · $234.2M reported

  1. UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH - OF THE COMMONWEALTH SYSTEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION$34.6M
    PITTSBURGH, PA · 248 subawards · Scientific research and development services
  2. THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY$23.7M
    UNIVERSITY PARK, PA · 32 subawards
  3. WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY RESEARCH CORPORATION$11.2M
    MORGANTOWN, WV · 2 subawards

Showing the top 3 of each list. Open the profile for potential partners and the full lists.

Primes report first-tier subawards of $30,000 or more themselves, and many go unreported (GAO-24-106214). Reporting moved from FSRS to SAM.gov in March 2025 and fewer sub-contracts have been reported since. Amounts are what primes reported; they are never added to prime award totals.

Source: Subawards (first-tier sub-contracts and sub-grants reported under FFATA) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov (reports filed in SAM.gov, formerly FSRS)), data current to Oct 9, 2026, loaded Oct 9, 2026 · Subawards loaded from 2021.

Competitors

Companies that win from the same buyers in the same markets: obligations by agency and industry compared over the last three fiscal years.

Compared on 18 markets (agency × industry), FY2024–FY2026.

  1. P E SYSTEMS, INC.$269.8M−45% in FY2026
    FAIRFAX, VA · 2 entities · 62% of this company's obligations are in markets they both serveAir Force · Scientific research and development services
  2. OASIS SYSTEMS, LLC$579.7M−28% in FY2026
    BURLINGTON, MA · 4 entities · 89% of this company's obligations are in markets they both serveAir Force · Scientific research and development services
  3. UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON$593.8M−33% in FY2026
    DAYTON, OH · 89% of this company's obligations are in markets they both serveAir Force · Scientific research and development services

Showing the top 3 of 25 competitors. Open the profile for the full list.

Who sells to the same buyers in the same markets, not who wins against whom on a given contract. Prime contract obligations by the agency and NAICS code of each award; subawards are never added. A company is a family of legal entities, joined by parent UEI or, in part, by an AI reading of names.

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 9, 2026, loaded Oct 9, 2026 · FY2024–FY2026.

Lobbying and PAC activity

Organizations in House lobbying disclosures and FEC records whose names an AI judgment matched to this company. Those records carry no identifier shared with contracts, so every match is by name.

Across the company family of CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY (3 recipients).

Matched organizations

  • Carnegie Mellon UniversityAI match · 100%
Lobbying · 2025
$460K
4 reports
Lobbying · 2023–2026
$1.4M
$1.4M in its own reports

Lobbying by year

  1. 2023$350K
    4 reports
  2. 2024$360K
    4 reports
  3. 2025$460K
    4 reports
  4. 2026$180K
    2 reports

Top issues

  1. Budget and appropriations14 reports
  2. Defense14 reports
  3. Education14 reports
  4. Science and technology14 reports
  5. Transportation14 reports
  6. Health issues7 reports
  7. Immigration6 reports
  8. Agriculture4 reports

Who was contacted

  1. U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES14 reports
  2. U.S. SENATE14 reports
  3. Commerce - Dept of (DOC)12 reports
  4. Transportation - Dept of (DOT)10 reports
  5. Army - Dept of (Other)8 reports
  6. Defense - Dept of (DOD)6 reports
  7. Air Force - Dept of4 reports
  8. Natl Science Foundation (NSF)3 reports
  9. Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP)2 reports
  10. Agriculture - Dept of (USDA)1 reports

Houses of Congress and federal agencies the reports list as contacted (a report names every one for all its issues).

Lobbying amounts are the filers' own good-faith estimates on quarterly LD-2 reports (the law asks for amounts rounded to $10,000; under $5,000 need not be itemized), latest amendment only. When an organization files its own report, it replaces what outside firms report for it that quarter. Matches are by name. Lobbying and political giving are legal and public: they show engagement with government, not influence over any award. Correlation is not influence: these organizations' lobbying and their contracts are shown side by side, and nothing here implies either affected the other.

Source: Lobbying disclosures (LD-1 registrations, LD-2 quarterly reports, LD-203 contribution reports) (Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives), data current to Oct 9, 2026, loaded Oct 9, 2026 · 2023–2026.

Source: Committees, candidates and committee contributions to candidates (Federal Election Commission), data current to Oct 9, 2026, loaded Oct 9, 2026 · 2026, 2024, 2022.

Matches: Analisa AI name judgments (entity-match@1), updated Sep 30, 2026.

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 9, 2026, loaded Oct 9, 2026.