Aquatics Associates Inc.

Aquatics Associates Inc., a woman-owned small business based in Fort Collins, Colorado, provides benthic macroinvertebrate sample analysis and aquatic ecosystem assessment services to federal natural-resource agencies as a prime contractor under total small business set-asides. The vendor operates as a Subchapter S corporation and competes exclusively under small business set-aside vehicles; all 42 tracked awards carry total small business designations.

The vendor's capability portfolio centers on taxonomic identification, enumeration, and analysis of benthic macroinvertebrate samples collected from lotic and lentic environments across the Rocky Mountain and Southwestern Tablelands ecoregions. Work requires personnel with expertise in entomology and extensive knowledge of regional aquatic fauna. Representative contracts include a $30,700 purchase order from USGS for macroinvertebrate sample analysis with performance through September 2031, a $65,470 purchase order from the U.S. Forest Service's Rocky Mountain Region for analysis of up to 50 samples from White River National Forest, and a $50,000 single-award blanket purchase agreement with USGS under which five call orders totaling $16,740 have been issued since February 2022. Personnel provide all labor, equipment, materials, and travel; work is performed in Fort Collins, Colorado or on-site at collection locations.

Customer concentration is split between two principal agencies, each anchoring roughly half of recent volume and dollars. The Department of Interior's USGS Office of Acquisitions and Grants has issued 16 awards worth $206 thousand combined potential value, while the Department of Agriculture's Forest Service Rocky Mountain Region (Region 2) has placed 13 awards worth $227 thousand. The Fish and Wildlife Service Region 6 and Department of Energy together account for the remaining 26% of awards. The vendor sits on two primary blanket purchase agreements: the $50,000 USGS BPA (award date February 2022, completion February 2027) supporting six task orders, and a Bureau of Land Management Biological and Physical Sciences BPA under which five task orders have been placed. Recent award velocity has declined markedly — four awards in 2022 declining to one award each in 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026 — with only two awards (combined potential value $11 thousand) reaching ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months and therefore facing recompete exposure. The vendor carries no subcontract footprint and operates solely as a prime contractor. Award categorization by NAICS reflects the aquatic-science focus: Testing Laboratories and Services (15 awards), Environmental Consulting Services (8 awards), and Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (10 awards) dominate the portfolio.