American Institutes For Research In The Behavioral Sciences

American Institutes For Research In The Behavioral Sciences (AIR) is a tax-exempt nonprofit research organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, that delivers applied research, program evaluation, technical assistance, and data analytics to federal agencies as a prime contractor (95% of recent awards) and less frequently as a subcontractor. AIR competes entirely on full-and-open terms with no set-aside designations across its federal footprint.

AIR's capability portfolio centers on behavioral and social science research, education program evaluation, healthcare policy analysis, workforce development assessment, and technical assistance delivery. Representative work includes a $20.6 million cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery order from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to design and evaluate the BALANCE healthcare model, a $62 million firm-fixed-price order supporting the National Assessment of Educational Progress technical infrastructure under the Department of Education, a $3.5 billion RMADA 3 IDIQ awarded by CMS for research, measurement, and analytics across ACA-funded models and demonstrations, and a $9.4 million Education Innovation and Research grant from the Department of Education to scale professional learning for early-career teachers. AIR also operates as a prime recipient on federal research grants across the National Science Foundation (AI literacy measurement scales, computational thinking professional learning, meta-analysis research infrastructure), the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (employment and community participation interventions for people with disabilities), and the Department of Labor (workforce development technical assistance).

Customer concentration skews toward education and health policy agencies. The top five funding agencies by award count—the Institute of Education Sciences (177 awards, $3.28 billion combined potential value), the Department of Navy (83 awards), the Department of Education (81 awards), CMS (60 awards, $12.62 billion), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (52 awards)—account for 31% of recent awards. By potential value, CMS dominates (64% of combined potential value across the top five customers), reflecting AIR's deep footprint in healthcare evaluation and model testing. The Institute of Education Sciences ranks second ($3.28 billion across 177 awards), positioning AIR as a primary evaluator for federal education research and technical assistance initiatives.

AIR holds multiple indefinite-delivery vehicles across major federal agencies. The vendor was awarded the OASIS+ Unrestricted IDIQ by GSA's Federal Acquisition Service in December 2024 with no ceiling specified, enabling procurement of applied research and evaluation services across all agencies through December 2029. CMS awarded AIR the RMADA 3 IDIQ in July 2026 with a $3.5 billion ceiling for healthcare model analytics. The Health Resources and Services Administration established a $344.7 million single-award IDIQ for evidence building and evaluation services through September 2027. AIR also holds a $49 million single-award contract supporting the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) governance and operations, and a $30 million multiple-award IDIQ from the Institute of Education Sciences for evaluations of programs and strategies addressing student supports. The vendor maintains the $12 million IMLS Survey BPA for public library and state library administrative surveys, and a $99 million BPA under the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy. The Multiple Award Schedule generates substantial volume with 110 recent task orders totaling $1.28 billion in combined potential value.

Activity has grown over the past four years, from 63 awards in 2022 to 92 in 2024, though 2025 and 2026 show fewer awards (34 and 21 respectively) reflecting the snapshot date bias toward mature contract cycles. Fifty-nine awards with ultimate completion dates in the next twenty-four months carry $321 million in combined potential value, representing a material recompete exposure and opportunity set. Service Contract Inventory reporting shows SCI-reportable invoiced revenue of $528.7 million across FY2022–FY2025 (FY2022: $108.1 million across 232 FTEs; FY2023: $149.5 million across 327 FTEs; FY2024: $153.9 million across 414 FTEs; FY2025: $117.3 million across 245 FTEs). This represents a subset of AIR's federal services contracts, excluding goods, products, and non-federal revenue. Government-paid hourly rates on SCI-reportable prime contracts cluster around a median of $193.68/hr, with 10th percentile rates at $133.82/hr and 90th percentile at $343.80/hr, reflecting a mixed workforce spanning administrative support through senior research leadership.

AIR self-performs most delivery, with subcontractors accounting for an average 7% of contractor hours across prime contracts. Named sub-engagement spans 234 distinct subcontractors. Across recent awards, AIR engages established research and consulting firms as subs: Georgia State University Research Foundation on career and technical education labor market research, WestEd on regional education laboratory services, Research Triangle Institute on correctional education and employment evaluation, Vertivis LLC for technology infrastructure supporting NSF science and engineering statistics, and Deloitte Consulting on healthcare access models. Smaller 8(a) and women-owned firms (LPE Associates, W2 Consulting Corporation, iCare Solutions) provide recruitment, evaluation, and data support on healthcare and employment initiatives. This subcontracting posture reflects AIR's ability to build specialized delivery teams while maintaining core internal capacity for research design, analysis, and client relationship management.

Corporate structure includes four named subsidiaries—Kimetrica LLC, AIR Mexico, Growth Transitions Inc., and Impaq International LLC—which extend the organization's applied research and technical assistance reach into specialized domains and international markets. GSA Schedule labor offerings span 97 unique categories from administrative support ($52.47/hr) through principal-level research positions ($449.63/hr), with education requirements from high school through master's and no security clearances offered, aligning the Schedule portfolio to AIR's core civilian research and evaluation mission.