What is a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC)?
FFRDCs were first established during World War II to meet specialized or unique research and development needs that could not be readily satisfied by government personnel, due to limits on federal salaries and hiring, or by commercial contractors. Additional and expanded requirements for specialized services led to increases in the size and number of FFRDCs to a peak of 74 FFRDCs in 1969. In 2001, 8 federal agencies fund 36 FFRDCs that are operated by universities, nonprofit organizations, or industrial firms under long-term contracts. From the Federal Acquisition Regulation Subpart 35.017: An FFRDC meets some special long-term research or development need which cannot be met as effectively by existing in-house or contractor resources. FFRDCs enable agencies to use private sector resources to accomplish tasks that are integral to the mission and operation of the sponsoring agency. An FFRDC, in order to discharge its responsibilities to the sponsoring agency, has access, beyond that whi
