Commissioning research capability, facilities and specialist analysis
Scientific research is bought in three distinguishable ways and the notices look similar. The first is a commissioned programme: the buyer defines a question and funds a team to investigate it. The second is access to capability -- beam time, vessel time, controlled environment facilities, computing -- where the buyer is purchasing time on an asset it cannot justify owning. The third is routine analytical service, where samples are sent and results returned against a method and a turnaround. Each has different qualification and different economics.
Quality assurance is the recurring requirement. Laboratories are expected to hold accreditation for the specific methods in scope, participate in proficiency testing, maintain traceable calibration and documented chain of custody for samples, and report uncertainty alongside results. For work that may be used in regulation or litigation, those requirements harden further and the reporting format itself becomes specified. An accreditation held for a neighbouring method does not satisfy a requirement written for this one.
Data and publication terms are as commercially significant as the price. Public and donor funders increasingly require research data to be deposited under open conditions with defined metadata, and require resulting publications to be openly accessible, which has cost and timing implications a bid should carry. Ethical approval, biosafety and containment levels, animal research licensing, export and transfer controls on materials, and access and benefit-sharing obligations for genetic resources are conditions precedent with their own lead times, and they are the usual reason an award does not translate into a start.
This section describes how this category is bought generally, across the public buyers that publish it. The figures elsewhere on this page are measured for this market alone.
Who buys scientific research in United States?
GlobalGov holds 896 scientific research records from 247 distinct buying organisations in United States. The most frequent publishers are Department of Defense (55 records); DEF Advanced Research Projects AGCY (41 records); Cincinnati Acquisition DIV (Cad) (37 records); AFRL RIK (25 records); Def Advanced Research Projects Agcy (22 records); National Aeronautics and Space Administration (22 records). Between them the 6 largest account for 23% of everything published, so buying here is spread across many separate authorities.
| Buying organisation | Records | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Defense | 55 | 6.1% |
| DEF Advanced Research Projects AGCY | 41 | 4.6% |
| Cincinnati Acquisition DIV (Cad) | 37 | 4.1% |
| AFRL RIK | 25 | 2.8% |
| Def Advanced Research Projects Agcy | 22 | 2.5% |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | 22 | 2.5% |
What are scientific research contracts worth in United States?
168 of the 896 records publish a contract value. The median is $73.4M and the largest single published value is $30.9B. By size, 8 under $100k, 31 between $100k and $1M, 9 between $1M and $10M, 120 above $10M. The remaining 728 publish no value at all, so every figure here describes the priced subset only, and values are as stated by the buyer rather than as finally awarded.
| Contract size | Records | Share of priced |
|---|---|---|
| under $100k | 8 | 4.8% |
| between $100k and $1M | 31 | 18% |
| between $1M and $10M | 9 | 5.4% |
| above $10M | 120 | 71% |
How long do bidders get to respond to scientific research tenders in United States?
Across the 522 United States scientific research notices that publish both a publication date and a closing date, the median response window is 18 days. A quarter of them allowed 12 days or fewer and a quarter stayed open for more than 39. 148 of them (28%) closed within a fortnight of being published, so on this market a bidder who reviews notices once a week can lose most of the response window before reading one.
How often are scientific research tenders published in United States?
United States publishes about 61 notices a month in this category, 737 in the last twelve months. That is 810% more than the 81 published in the twelve months before that. Over the last three years there were 845, spread across 56 separate months of activity since 6 January 2016. April is historically the busiest month. The most recent was published 30 September 2026.
How does United States compare with other scientific research markets?
Among the 21 countries where GlobalGov holds a comparable scientific research market, United States ranks 2nd by number of records. The largest is Germany (1,240 records against 896 here). Within United States itself, scientific research is the 32nd largest of the 85 procurement categories tracked here.
Where do the United States scientific research records on this page come from?
These 896 records are collected from 3 official sources: SAM.gov (798), USAspending (95), Simpler.Grants.gov (3). GlobalGov is an independent aggregator and is not affiliated with any of them; each record links back to the notice on its issuing portal. The set is rebuilt nightly, and the counts on this page were taken on 2026-10-01.
Most recent Scientific Research tenders in United States
None of these are open for bids now — they are the most recent records GlobalGov holds for this market, kept here so the shape of a typical scientific research notice in United States is visible. Set an alert to be told when the next one opens.
Realistic Mass Casualty Medical Simulation Capabilities RFI
Request for Information: Biomolecule Purification
Area-Multiplied Photonic-crystal Enhanced Devices (AMPED)
Research Opportunity: DNA-Protein Epigenetic Chemistry Engineering (D-PECHE)
Roundtop RFI
RFI: Levels of Resilience through Formal Methods
Organoid Cytomorphic Intelligence Resulting from Convergent Understanding and Information Transfer (O-Circuit)
Future Program: Resuscitation and Prevention of Ischemia-Induced Dysfunction (RAPIID)
Decentralized Artificial Intelligence through Controlled Emergence (DICE) Proposers Day
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Scientific Research procurement in other markets
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