DoD-supported FFRDCs are independent, not-for-profit, private-sector organizations that are established and funded to meet special long-term engineering, research, development, or other analytic needs that cannot be met as effectively by government or other private-sector resources.
DoD-supported UARCs are all non-profit research organizations affiliated with a university and have a set of core competencies—areas of domain expertise or specialization – that are tailored to the long-term needs of the Department.