Our Customer: NCI-Frederick

The National Cancer Institute at Frederick

SAIC-Frederick works under contract for one customer, the National Cancer Institute at Frederick (NCI-Frederick), which is a government-owned, contractor-operated facility designated by Congress as a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC).

An FFRDC is an organization that combines private business practices with government operations under a broad charter that promotes quick action, flexibility, and accountability.

The FFRDC contractor is required to be autonomous, operate in the public interest, be free from organizational conflicts of interest, and provide full disclosure of its affairs to its sponsoring agency.

FFRDCs have special access to government and private data, including sensitive and proprietary information, as well as to federal employees and facilities. To best serve the public, government–contractor relationships are stable and long-term.

Other FFRDCs include the national laboratories of Brookhaven, Oak Ridge, Los Alamos, and Lawrence Livermore, the National Defense Research Institute, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Thirty-eight organizations are so designated.

Because of their special acquisition authorities and broad charter, FFRDCs are especially effective in facilitating partnerships between the government, academia, nonprofits, and the corporate sector. Up to 30 percent of FFRDC funding may come from nonfederal sources.