Recipients › Tennessee › Vanderbilt University
Recipient organisation · UEI CU5LDY9V2M76
Vanderbilt University
USAspending caveat. Figures are obligations reported by federal agencies to USAspending.gov, not payments. In USAspending's words: "An outlay occurs when federal money is actually paid out, not just promised to be paid ('obligated')." "Every agency has a Senior Accountable Official who must officially certify that the quarterly financial data submitted by their agency is accurate and complete." "If there are any discrepancies in procurement data, FPDS is the authoritative source." Contract data for the Department of Defense and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is published with a 90-day delay. Data loaded 30 Sep 2026. View the USAspending recipient profile.
Vanderbilt University, of Nashville, TN, was obligated $20M in federal awards across the 4 fiscal years in which it reached the $1.0M listing floor (2023, 2024, 2025, 2026).
In FY2026, the most recent complete fiscal year, obligations were $6.2M, of which $6.2M (100%) came through contracts.
That is about level on FY2025 ($5.7M).
Vanderbilt University ranks 247 of 439 listed organisations located in TN by five-year obligations, and 17,844 of 30,000 nationally.
Its $1.0M-plus awards since FY2023 came from Department of Defense and National Aeronautics and Space Administration: 9 awards worth $20M in total award value.
Its largest contract industry is NAICS 611310 (Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools), where it ranks 18 of 93 organisations by the value of $1.0M-plus awards.
Obligations by fiscal year contracts vs assistance
| Fiscal year | All obligations | Contracts | Assistance | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2023 | $3,719,551 | $3,719,551 | $0 | — |
| FY2024 | $4,876,400 | $4,876,400 | $0 | +31% |
| FY2025 | $5,678,881 | $5,678,881 | $0 | +16% |
| FY2026 | $6,166,208 | $6,166,208 | $0 | +9% |
| FY2027 to date | under $1.0M | — | — | — |
A fiscal year runs 1 October to 30 September. "Contracts" are procurement award types A–D; "assistance" is everything else (grants, direct payments, loan subsidy cost, insurance, other). The contracts column is listed only where contract obligations alone reached $1.0M; the assistance figure is the remainder and may therefore include up to $1.0M of contracts.
Compared with its state and the largest recipients five listed years
| Measure | This organisation | Largest in TN | Largest nationally |
|---|---|---|---|
| Five-year obligations (listed years) | $20M | $43B | $416B |
| FY2026 obligations | $6.2M | $12B | $118B |
| Contracts, five years | $20M | under $1.0M | $94B |
| Assistance, five years | $0 | $43B | $416B |
| Rank by five-year obligations | 17,844 of 30,000 | 1 of 439 in TN | 1 |
Largest in state: Finance & Administration Tennessee Depar. Largest nationally: Health Care Services, California Department of. Rankings count organisations located in the state, by the sum of their listed fiscal years.
Awarding agencies $1.0M+ awards since FY2023
| # | Agency | Awards | Award value | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Department of Defense | 8 | $17M | 85% |
| 2 | National Aeronautics and Space Administration | 1 | $3.0M | 15% |
Contract industries NAICS
Rank within NAICS 611310: 18 of 93 organisations by $1.0M+ award value; see Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools.
Places of performance $1.0M+ awards
Counties: Davidson County, TN $20M
Largest awards begun since FY2023
| Awarding agency | Type | Industry or program | Award value | Begun | Place | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | ContractDefinitive Contract | 541715 Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology) | $3.0M | 27 Nov 2023 | TN | USAspending |
| Department of DefenseDepartment of the Navy | ContractDelivery Order | 611310 Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools | $2.5M | 20 Feb 2026 | TN | USAspending |
| Department of DefenseDepartment of the Navy | ContractDelivery Order | 611310 Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools | $2.4M | 19 Sep 2025 | TN | USAspending |
| Department of DefenseDepartment of the Navy | ContractDelivery Order | 611310 Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools | $2.3M | 20 Feb 2025 | TN | USAspending |
| Department of DefenseDepartment of the Navy | ContractDelivery Order | 611310 Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools | $2.1M | 2 Oct 2024 | TN | USAspending |
| Department of DefenseDepartment of the Navy | ContractDelivery Order | 611310 Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools | $2.0M | 5 Mar 2024 | TN | USAspending |
| Department of DefenseDepartment of the Navy | ContractDelivery Order | 611310 Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools | $2.0M | 1 Oct 2023 | TN | USAspending |
| Department of DefenseDepartment of the Navy | ContractDelivery Order | 611310 Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools | $1.7M | 1 Oct 2022 | TN | USAspending |
| Department of DefenseDepartment of the Navy | ContractDelivery Order | 611310 Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools | $1.6M | 5 Jan 2023 | TN | USAspending |
Award value is the amount obligated to the award to date as USAspending reports it. Descriptions below are USAspending's text, unedited and truncated; those that appear to name a person are withheld.
- $2.5M, Department of Defense, 20 Feb 2026: SPRING 2026 NROTC MIDN TUITION AND ALLOWABLE FEES
- $2.4M, Department of Defense, 19 Sep 2025: VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY FALL 2025 TUITION AND ALLOWABLE FEES
- $2.3M, Department of Defense, 20 Feb 2025: 51-VANDERBIILT NROTC MIDSHIPMEN TUITION AND ALLOWABLE FEES.
- $2.1M, Department of Defense, 2 Oct 2024: EDUCATIONAL SERVICE AGREEMENT
- $2.0M, Department of Defense, 5 Mar 2024: S24 EDUCATIONAL SERVICE AGREEMENT
- $2.0M, Department of Defense, 1 Oct 2023: TO PAY TUITION/FEES FOR 73 STUDENTS ON A NROTC SCHOLARSHIP FOR THE FALL 2023 TERM AT VANDERBILT, BELMONT UNIVERSITY AND TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY PER THE ESA C
- $1.7M, Department of Defense, 1 Oct 2022: TO PAY TUITION/FEES FOR 72 STUDENTS ON A NROTC SCHOLARSHIP FOR THE FALL 2022 TERM AT VANDERBILT, BELMONT UNIVERSITY AND TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY PER THE ESA C
- $1.6M, Department of Defense, 5 Jan 2023: TO PAY TUITION/FEES FOR 65 STUDENTS ON A NROTC SCHOLARSHIP FOR THE SPRING 2023 TERM AT VANDERBILT, BELMONT UNIVERSITY AND TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY PER THE ESA
Questions and answers
How much federal money does Vanderbilt University receive?
$20M in award obligations over the fiscal years it is listed for (FY2023: $3.7M; FY2024: $4.9M; FY2025: $5.7M; FY2026: $6.2M). Years not listed were under the $1.0M floor. Obligations are binding commitments, not payments made.
Which agencies award to Vanderbilt University?
By the value of $1.0M-plus awards begun since FY2023: Department of Defense ($17M) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration ($3.0M).
What is the money for?
Contracts are classified under NAICS 611310 Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools and NAICS 541715 Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology).
Where is the work performed?
Primary places of performance for its larger awards: TN ($20M).
Is Vanderbilt University a large federal recipient?
It ranks 17,844 of 30,000 organisations on this site by five-year obligations and 247 of 439 located in TN. The site covers organisations with at least $1.0M in a fiscal year; individuals are excluded.
Where does this data come from?
USAspending.gov (U.S. Treasury), award transactions as loaded on 30 Sep 2026; fiscal-year totals via the spending-by-category endpoint and award lists via the award search endpoint. The USAspending recipient profile is the authoritative record.
Provenance
Source: USAspending.gov API v2 (U.S. Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Fiscal Service), CC0. Fiscal-year obligations from the spending-by-category recipient ranking by recipient state (listing floor $1.0M per year); awards from the award search endpoint (new awards of $1.0M or more by base obligation date); parent and business categories from the recipient profile where fetched. Closed fiscal years are snapshots taken after year end; FY2027 is refreshed on each build. Data loaded by USAspending on 30 Sep 2026. Individuals and sole proprietors are excluded at ingest. Errors in processing are corrected at the next build; see corrections and the methodology.