Arc3 Gases, Inc.

Arc3 Gases, Inc., a family-owned for-profit manufacturer and distributor headquartered in Dunn, North Carolina, supplies industrial gases, cryogenic liquids, welding equipment, and laboratory gases to federal agencies as a prime contractor across 100% of its recent awards, competing predominantly under total small business set-asides and full-and-open designations in roughly equal measure. The company operates through multiple named subsidiaries including Arcet Equipment Co and Machine & Welding Supply Company, consolidating industrial gas manufacturing (NAICS 325120) and welding-equipment distribution capabilities under a single corporate structure.

Arc3's federal footprint centers on defense and civilian research agencies. The top five customer agencies by potential value account for 90% of combined award value and are anchored by the National Institutes of Health's Office of Logistics and Acquisition Operations, which holds a $10 million blanket purchase agreement — the vendor's largest single vehicle — running through October 2024. The Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation Headquarters Division ranks second by both award count (11 awards, $856 thousand) and potential value share, followed by the Department of Homeland Security's US Secret Service (5 awards, $542 thousand, anchored by a five-year indefinite delivery contract valued at $413,487.21 through February 2029), Naval Sea Systems Command (11 awards, $501 thousand), and the Defense Health Agency (2 awards, $325 thousand). The FBI and NAVSEA tie for volume (11 awards each) but differ sharply in scale: FBI awards cluster in the tens of thousands while NAVSEA spans procurement categories from sub-thousand-dollar purchases to multi-year cryogenic-supply agreements. Arc3 also holds active relationships with the US Coast Guard (6 awards, $179 thousand), NIST, NOAA, the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and smaller defense and civilian components, serving 24 distinct federal agencies in total.

Arc3's core capability framing is industrial-gas supply: 56 of 67 recent awards (84%) are categorized under NAICS 325120, with an additional 42 awards coded to PSC 4730 (Gases: Compressed and Liquefied). Representative work includes a $204,495 firm fixed-price purchase order from NIST for bulk liquid argon tank fills and telemetry rentals across Gaithersburg, Maryland and Charleston, South Carolina through September 2028; a $198,564.60 total small business set-aside with the Defense Health Agency for dry ice pellets through September 2027, performing at Fort Eustis, Virginia; a $116,385.60 firm fixed-price contract with the Bureau of Naval Personnel for weekly delivery of four 180-liter liquid nitrogen dewars in Goose Creek, South Carolina through December 2026; and a $113,701.71 full-and-open purchase order from Naval Sea Systems Command for ultra-high purity argon, hydrogen, and liquid nitrogen dewar leases and maintenance through September 2029. Arc3 also supplies welding equipment — a $29,694.90 total small business set-aside for two Miller XMT 350 welders to NAVSEA in 2022 and $22,778 in welding machines (an Edwards ironworker and Aspect water-cooled unit) to the Forest Service Job Corps in 2024 — and specialty dry-ice and gas services (demurrage for the DEA, hydrostatic cylinder testing for Military Sealift Command, CO2 refill services for federal law enforcement centers).

Activity has grown materially year over year — eight awards in 2022 to sixteen in 2024, with a modest pullback to ten awards in 2025 and four in the first three months of 2026 — reflecting a rising federal footprint. Eight awards with combined potential value of $625 thousand reach ultimate completion inside the next twenty-four months, representing moderate recompete exposure concentrated in small-value task orders and purchase orders rather than large IDV vehicles. Arc3 holds four active IDVs with federal agencies: the $10 million NIH BPA (expired October 2024 on paper but continues generating task orders), the $413,487.21 US Secret Service indefinite delivery contract through February 2029, a $320,000 Headquarters Division BPA for laboratory gases through October 2029, and a $250,000 Naval Sea Systems Command dry-ice BPA through March 2030, plus a recent $250,000 Air Combat Command BPA for rental gases (nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide) through September 2028. Task order activity under these vehicles is sparse — four orders totaling $128 thousand under the Secret Service IDC, three orders totaling $42 thousand under a broader NIH vehicle — suggesting Arc3 operates primarily through spot purchases and purchase orders rather than sustained task-order streams. The vendor carries combined potential value across all awards of $13.6 million, with $2 million obligated (15% execution rate), indicating substantial pipeline depth relative to recent invoice.