National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

The Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is a civilian agency that procures and funds contracts and grants supporting environmental observation, prediction, and data services across satellite systems, atmospheric research, fisheries science, marine operations, and weather forecasting. NOAA operates as a sub-agency within the Department of Commerce, with distinct operational bureaus including the National Weather Service (NWS), National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), and Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR). The agency transacts heavily through both federal contracts and grant awards.

NOAA awarded 125,472 federal contracts cumulatively since 1978, with combined potential value of $59.98 billion and $49.11 billion obligated. Recent contract activity has declined: 4,130 awards in 2023, 3,371 in 2024, 2,178 in 2025, 2,249 in 2026, and 7 year-to-date in 2027. The most recently recorded award date is August 4, 2027. Among 22,786 distinct prime contractors, competitive concentration is highly fragmented by award count—the top five primes hold 12 percent of recent awards over the last five years. By potential value, concentration is also highly fragmented at 1 percent coverage, though the composition differs: Lynker Corporation leads with $451.5 million across 65 awards, followed by Thundercat Technology, LLC with $159 million across 379 awards. CSP Enterprises, LLC transacts heavily by count (945 recent awards) but reports combined potential value of only $62.4 million; Thundercat, Vaisala Inc., and Government Acquisitions LLC round out the top five by value. Seventy-one percent of contract awards carry no set-aside designation; 24 percent are small-business set-asides, with 8(a) sole source representing 2 percent and all other small-business designations (WOSB, SDVOSB, HUBZone) collectively under 1 percent.

NOAA awarded 21,950 federal grants cumulatively since August 2000, obligating $40.36 billion in federal dollars and $67.28 billion in total federal and non-federal dollars combined. Recent grant activity has contracted: 1,256 awards in 2023, 973 in 2024, 923 in 2025, 234 in 2026, and 7 year-to-date in 2027. The most recently recorded grant award date is February 1, 2027. Among 2,191 distinct recipients, concentration is highly fragmented by award count—the top five recipients hold 9 percent of recent awards. By federal dollars obligated over the last five years, concentration remains highly fragmented at 7 percent coverage. The Regents of The University of Colorado leads both dimensions with 74 awards obligating $1.65 billion in federal dollars; University of California San Diego, University of Washington, and University of Hawaii follow by award count; Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission ranks second by federal dollars ($549 million across 41 awards). Grants are split nearly evenly between Cooperative Agreements (51 percent of awards) and Project Grants (48 percent), with Formula Grants comprising 1 percent.

Recent contract solicitations span satellite and ground-station operations, vessel services, facility support, and research infrastructure. NESDIS is procuring Ground Station as a Service from ATLAS Space Operations Inc. via sole-source firm-fixed-price contract valued $7 million to $10 million (due November 5, 2026). The Office of Marine & Aviation Operations (OMAO) posted a small-business set-aside request for two tugs and pilot services for NOAA Ship Pisces at Norfolk, Virginia (due October 19, 2026, closed). The National Weather Service Radar Operations Center issued a pre-solicitation notice for an IDIQ contract to inspect, repair, and engineer WSR-88D radomes across 160 NEXRAD systems nationwide and overseas (sources-sought due October 30, 2026). OMAO solicited small-business set-aside proposals for oil containment boom services during vessel refueling at multiple ports (due October 27, 2026). NESDIS posted a competitive Request for Project Proposal for NESDIS Enterprise Mission Operations (NEMO) Other Transaction Agreement(s) to develop innovative approaches to satellite mission operations (white papers due October 26, 2026). NWS issued sources-sought notices for commercial total lightning and cloud-to-ground lightning data feeds to support operational forecasting and warning systems (both due October 23, 2026). Additional pre-solicitations include the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory's request for high-performance computing software development and technical services (due October 27, 2026), and Santa Cruz Laboratory facility support services including janitorial, landscaping, HVAC, and emergency-generator maintenance (due October 19, 2026).

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's mission is to understand and predict changes in climate, weather, oceans, and coasts. The products and services produced by the administration support a number of functions, including severe weather preparedness, and international trade through shipping.