While the Carnegie Classification signals institutional research intensity, it does not fully reflect the emerging, specialized R&D capacities at many HBCUs. Through the PEI Initiative, institutions with capabilities aligned to high-income yielding NAICS sectors— such as nanotechnology, biotechnology, and life sciences—can better compete for federal contracts and build impactful technologies even before reaching R1, R2 , or RCU status. Table 1 illustrates FY2020–2025 federal contract volume by NAICS code, with code 541715 alone representing $198.7 billion in research contracting as of August 2025. Institutions, including Howard, Jackson State, Morehouse School of Medicine, Florida A&M, Fisk, and Cheyney, have already leveraged code 541715, demonstrating their readiness to scale. Translating National R&D Priorities into Action through the Partnering Framework
Table 1. NAICS Codes of Interest in U.S. Federal Contracts (FY2020–FY2025)
NAICS Contracts Subcontracts
Total
541715 $198.7 B
$49.9 B $248.5 B
541712
$72.8 B
$25.5 B $98.3 B
541990 $69.4 B
$11.1 B $80.5 B
541710 $51.2 B
$34.7 M $51.2 B
541714 $ 16.9 B
$2.3 B $19.2 B
541720
$6.7 B
$2.2 B $8.9 B
541380
$3.2 B $227.6 M $3.4 B
541713
$1.2 B $356.1 M $1.6 B
This table summarizes federal contract volume and total obligated value for prioritized R&D NAICS codes across the U.S. federal government, including HBCU-associated contracting activity. Data was accessed on 8/20/2025 from HigherGov ( https://www.highergov.com ), an analytics platform that aggregates U.S. government contracting and grants data. The data are sorted from highest to lowest based on the following ranking priority: Contracts > Subcontracts > NAICS code.
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