Applied Research Associates, Inc.

Applied Research Associates, Inc., operating through its Corporate / Southwest Division and headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is a for-profit Subchapter S corporation that delivers research and engineering services, modeling and simulation, systems engineering, test and evaluation, and technical consulting to federal defense and civilian agencies as a prime contractor (98% of recent awards) competing full-and-open without SBA set-asides. ARA is owned by parent company ARA Holdings Inc. and operates through multiple named subsidiaries across domestic and overseas locations.

ARA's customer concentration is heavily weighted toward defense agencies. The top five funding customers by potential value account for 82% of combined award value: the Department of the Air Force ($47.99 billion across 267 awards), the Defense Threat Reduction Agency ($13.55 billion across 536 awards), the Naval Sea Systems Command ($11.62 billion across 62 awards), the Army Materiel Command Research Development and Engineering Command ($8.99 billion across 198 awards), and the Air Force Materiel Command ($2.03 billion across 43 awards). By award count, DTRA leads with 536 awards (47% coverage), followed by the Department of the Army (416 awards), the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (278 awards), the Air Force (267 awards), and the Federal Highway Administration (227 awards). The BSEE relationship is characterized by persistent, high-volume facility support and testing work at the OHMSETT oil spill response research facility, where ARA performs maintenance, repairs, facility upgrades, equipment testing, and custodial services across numerous small-to-mid-value delivery orders. This civilian work stream contrasts with the dominant defense posture and provides diversified revenue stability.

Capability portfolio centers on weapons effects modeling, mission impact analysis, hazard prediction and assessment software, advanced manufacturing of energetics, nuclear survivability analysis, balanced electromagnetic hardening technology assessment, tactical decision aids for chemical and biological defense, and digital twin technology for chemical and biological sensors. Recent prime contract examples include a $170.8 million delivery order from DTRA (February 2026) for analysis and planning tools under the Combating Weapons of Mass Destruction 2024-2029 IDIQ; a $95.7 million delivery order from the Air Force Aeronautical Systems Center (May 2027) for F-22 TE-RECCS II technical and engineering services under OASIS SB, where ARA is not technically a small business but delivered work under the vehicle's set-aside structure through a distributed subcontractor network including Aforge LLC (veteran-owned, service-disabled veteran-owned small business), CDW Government LLC, Carahsoft Technology Corp, and Copper River Information Technology LLC (tribally owned, minority-owned small disadvantaged business); and a $111.3 million delivery order from DTRA (December 2024) for technical reachback operational support providing 24/7/365 technical reachback effort at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. ARA also delivers infrastructure resilience and wind/tornado hazard modeling research through federal cooperative agreements with NIST: a $2.3 million definitive contract from the Engineer Research and Development Center (June 2026) for windstorm resilience research supporting DoD facilities, and recent NIST cooperative agreements (FY2026) for developing new design wind speed maps and tornado hazard maps for incorporation into the ASCE 7 standard. Civilian work includes pavement performance and traffic monitoring support for the Federal Highway Administration and environmental water resource tracking systems for the Army Corps of Engineers' Institute for Water Resources.

Vehicle portfolio is extensive and positions ARA across full-and-open federal IT and defense R&D vehicles. The vendor holds or has been awarded position on the $151 billion SHIELD IDIQ (Missile Defense Agency, December 2025), the Combating Weapons of Mass Destruction 2024-2029 IDIQ ($4 billion ceiling, DTRA single-award vehicle, with 15+ active delivery orders including $170.8 million, $111.3 million, $66.8 million, and $46.9 million orders), Alliant 3 GWAC (GSA, unrestricted, $999.999 trillion placeholder ceiling through March 2036), OASIS+ Unrestricted (GSA, multiple-award), ASTRO GWAC (aerospace and technical services), Seaport Next Generation (GSA, engineering and technical services), the Analytical Services IDIQ for weapons effectiveness and munitions analysis (Office of the Secretary of Defense, multiple-award vehicle spanning $2.1 million to $27.1 million task orders), Eglin Wide Agile Acquisition Contract (EWAAC, Air Force, supporting lethality modeling and Next Generation Penetrator development), the $111.5 million Office of Naval Research Center for Computational Sciences IDIQ (single-award, May 2026–May 2031), and multiple Engineer Research and Development Center Other Transaction IDVs ($10.4 million for pavement strength and deformation, $10.8 million for weapons terminal effects in extreme temperatures, $9.99 million for cold weather mobility testing, $8 million for geoengineered materials solutions, $5.2 million for accelerated soil stabilization). ARA also holds NIST Community Resilience Program and Disaster and Failure Studies IDIQs ($9.5 million and $9.8 million respectively), Federal Highway Administration training and asset management IDIQ ($10 million), an FMCSA R&T IDIQ ($60 million), and a Benefield Anechoic Facility Antenna Systems IDIQ ($20.3 million, single-award Air Force Materiel Command vehicle). The company is positioned on the newly awarded $151 billion SHIELD IDIQ and holds a $982.1 million Seaport Next Generation vehicle noted in prior statements, establishing ARA as a tier-one player across high-value defense and civilian R&D procurement.

Activity trajectory shows decline from 137 awards in 2023 to 90 in 2025 and 61 in 2026, reflecting a shift toward higher-value task orders under established IDIQs rather than standalone contract awards. Combined potential value of awards reaching completion in the next 24 months stands at $1.83 billion, representing significant recompete exposure centered on DTRA and Air Force vehicles where ARA maintains deep incumbent positioning.

Service Contract Inventory data shows ARA's federal services invoicing of $193.3 million across FY2022–FY2025 (prime records only), with FY2024 peak of $64.3 million across 340 FTEs and decline to $46.3 million across 250 FTEs in FY2025. Across SCI-reportable prime contracts, median government-paid hourly rates run around $55.31/hr, with senior labor pricing through $116.25/hr at the 90th percentile and entry-level support at $36.60/hr. GSA Schedule labor portfolio spans 63 active categories from Software Maintenance Junior Technician ($53.08/hr) through Software Maintenance Principal Subject Matter Expert ($286.25/hr), carrying education requirements from high school through master's degree with no security-cleared positions offered. On federal services contracts captured in SCI, ARA deployed 11% of total contractor hours through named subcontractors, with 453 total named subcontractors reported across prime contracts—a lean subcontract profile reflecting ARA's capacity to staff projects with internal labor.

Teaming pattern shows ARA operates predominantly as a prime contractor (98% of awards) with selective subcontract engagement. Named sub-award relationships center on engineering and technical support: Eastern Research Group Inc. for energetics and chemical support (October 2025, Naval Sea Systems Command energetics), Triad National Security LLC for Los Alamos National Laboratory operations and contingent labor (July 2026), Jacobs Engineering Group and Jacobs Government Services Company for architecture-engineer and design services across Air Force and DoD projects (January–September 2025), Northrop Grumman Systems Corp for BLU-109 aging surveillance and reporting (February 2026), General Dynamics Information Technology for health and environmental systems (February 2026), Lockheed Martin Corporation for Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile Enterprise Software (February 2025), Leidos for technical editorial and communications support (February 2025), CDM Federal Programs Corporation for bridge and tunnel strike prevention consulting (March 2026), and ECS Federal LLC for enterprise platform management support (June–August 2026). The sub-award pattern reflects ARA's strategy of bringing specialized labor, equipment manufacturing, and domain expertise partners onto larger integration and systems engineering efforts rather than operating as a feeder subcontractor to other primes. Federal grant footprint includes NIST cooperative agreements as prime recipient for windstorm resilience ($2.3 million, ERDC, June 2026), tornado hazard mapping (September 2025), and wind speed map development (October 2025) for incorporation into building standards, plus sub-recipient roles under National Academy of Sciences and University of Vermont grant awards for pavement marking selection and microplastics removal research (April 2026 and January 2026 respectively).

ARA's award history and vehicle positioning establish it as a multi-billion-dollar defense research and engineering prime anchored to DTRA, Air Force, and Navy customer relationships, with growing civilian infrastructure and resilience work through NIST, Federal Highway Administration, and Army Corps of Engineers engagement. The company does not hold SBA set-asides and competes full-and-open across federal vehicles, positioning it as a competitor to larger defense primes on unrestricted GWACs and a prime choice for DTRA's weapons effects and mission analysis mission area, where it commands the largest customer relationship share by both award count and dollar value.