Federal agency
National Science Foundation (NSF)
$69.2 Billion committed in FY2018–FY2026
- Mission
- To promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense; and for other purposes.
- Sub-agencies
- 1 bureaus and offices
- Website
- https://www.nsf.gov/ ↗
- Agency code
- 049
How the money flows
Committed dollars by how the money leaves NSF.
Grants
$64.2B
93%
Contracts
$4.9B
7%
Where the money goes
Top destinations of NSF's committed dollars. Direct payments to individuals (Medicare, Social Security, …) are aggregated by the government, so they show as the federal program rather than a named recipient.
What they buy
Top products and services NSF buys under contract, by dollars committed.
Operation of Government-Owned Contractor-Operated (Goco) R&D Facilities
$2.1B
It and Telecom- Integrated Hardware/Software/Services Solutions, Predominantly Services
$513.6M
Support- Professional: Other
$362.5M
It and Telecom - Business Application/Application Development Support Services (Labor)
$319.0M
Support- Management: Logistics Support
$275.4M
It and Telecom- Other It and Telecommunications
$133.8M
Support- Professional: Program Management/Support
$126.4M
Support- Professional: Program Evaluation/Review/Development
$120.4M
Special Studies/Analysis- Other
$96.0M
It and Telecom - Business Application Software (Perpetual License Software)
$89.1M
Awards
The largest individual awards issued by NSF.
Competition
How competitively NSF's contract dollars were awarded. 'Not available' is legitimate sole-source (a single source — utilities, proprietary parts); 'not competed' is the flag worth a second look.
Competed
$4.5B
90%
Not competed
$141.7M
3%
Not available for competition
$329.8M
Contract set-asides
Contract dollars NSF reserved before bidding for a specific kind of firm — small business, 8(a), service-disabled-veteran, women-owned, HUBZone — versus full and open competition.
Small business
$188.0M
4%
8(a)
$302.1M
6%
Service-disabled veteran
$38.2M
<1%
Where it lands
Top states by place of performance — where NSF's work is done or its money lands, by dollars committed.
California
$8.2B
Massachusetts
$4.5B
By fiscal year
Committed dollars grew 18% across FY2018–FY2025. NSF's committed dollars per fiscal year, FY2018–FY2026.
* FY2026 is year-to-date — the fiscal year is still in progress, so its total is still filling in. The striped band and dashed line mark that provisional stretch.
How to read these numbers
- Committed, not paid
Every figure is money this agency committed — legally promised by signing a contract or awarding a grant — counted in the year each action happened, not cash out the door.
- From FY2018 on
Agency pages start at fiscal year 2018, the first year of complete federal-assistance reporting. Earlier years aren't shown rather than shown wrong.
- Awards, counted once
An award count is the number of distinct awards with at least one action that year — each counted once, however many times it was amended.
- Benefits show as programs
Medicare, Social Security, and other direct payments to individuals are aggregated by the government, so under Where the money goes they appear as the program, not a named recipient.
- The colored bars
Every bar on this page splits by how the money moves:
Direct payments
