Directorate of Geosciences

The National Science Foundation Directorate of Geosciences is a civilian sub-agency within the National Science Foundation that procures contract and grant work supporting geoscience research and infrastructure. The Directorate's contract footprint is modest but active, while grant-making activity is minimal relative to current contracting operations.

Over the past five years, the Directorate has awarded 51 contracts totaling $4.2 million in combined potential value, with award cadence fluctuating significantly: 10 awards in 2020, 3 in 2021, 7 in 2022, 23 in 2023, and 8 in 2024. Across the portfolio history since 2008, the Directorate has executed 112 contracts with $15.7 million in combined potential value and $9.7 million obligated. Fifty-nine distinct prime contractors have been awarded contracts, indicating a moderately fragmented competitive base. Among recent awards, Trace Systems, Inc. leads by award count with 7 awards ($357 thousand combined potential value); Aurora Systems Consulting Inc. and American Wordata, Inc. follow with 4 and 3 awards respectively. By potential value, concentration is more concentrated: Professional Management Consulting Services LLC, Fedwriters, Inc., and QED Enterprises Inc. each hold single large contracts ($2.6 million, $2.5 million, and $1.9 million respectively) that collectively anchor recent spending. The top five contractors by potential value account for 52 percent of recent contract value.

Set-aside activity is limited. Two-thirds of awards carry no set-aside designation; the remainder splits across total small business (22 percent of awards), 8(a) sole source (9 percent), competitive 8(a) (1 percent), and HUBZone (1 percent). Grant-making activity is dormant: the Directorate has obligated only 2 grants totaling $13.4 million, both awarded in 2012 — 1 Cooperative Agreement and 1 Project Grant — with no grant activity recorded since that time. No recent contract opportunities or grant opportunities are present in the source data.

GEO supports basic research that advances the frontiers of knowledge and drives technological innovation while improving our understanding of the many processes that affect the global environment.These processes include the role of the atmosphere and oceans in climate, the planetary water cycle, andocean acidification. Support is provided for interdisciplinary studies that contribute directly to national research priorities such as: understanding, adapting to, and mitigating the impacts of global change; developing and deploying integrated ocean observing capabilities to support ecosystem-based management; and understanding future availability of fresh water. Lives are saved and property is preserved through better prediction and understanding of natural environmental hazards such as earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes, tsunamis, drought and solar storms. Basic research supported by GEO enables preparation for and subsequent mitigation of, or adaptation to, the effects of these and other disruptive natural events.