Archbold Expeditions, Inc.

Archbold Expeditions, Inc., doing business as Archbold Biological Station, is a tax-exempt non-profit organization based in Venus, Florida that operates as a prime recipient of federal research grants and cooperative agreements in field ecology, endangered-species population monitoring, habitat assessment, and conservation-management research, with secondary engagement as a sub-recipient on university-led agricultural and ecological research programs.

Archbold Reserve is structured as a non-profit biological field station established in 1941 and dedicated to long-term ecological research, education, and conservation. The organization manages a globally significant 5,193-acre scrub preserve, a 3,648-acre restoration site, and Buck Island Ranch, a 10,500-acre working cattle ranch and terrestrial ecosystem. The vendor competes entirely in unrestricted, full-and-open federal grant and cooperative-agreement vehicles; no set-aside designations appear across the award footprint.

The capability portfolio centers on field-based population monitoring and management of threatened and endangered species, habitat assessments, ecological data collection, and research infrastructure development. Representative prime-recipient work includes a $564,734 National Science Foundation project grant (CFDA 47.074, Division of Biological Infrastructure) awarded February 2023 for construction of an integrated laboratory facility to support field sample processing, analytical work, and molecular research on long-term population studies of Florida scrub jays, gopher tortoises, and plant species; a Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service cooperative agreement from July 2022 through June 2026 for population monitoring and habitat management of three threatened and endangered species (Florida grasshopper sparrow, Florida scrub-jay, red-cockaded woodpecker) at Avon Park Air Force Range, including banding, demographic estimation, nest protection, and translocations; and a $241,036 Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service cooperative agreement under the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) from May 2023 to January 2026 for biological and technical assistance supporting sustainable conservation activities. In its sub-recipient role, Archbold provides field instrumentation, data management, and eddy flux tower monitoring services to University of Florida and University of Illinois research teams on Long-Term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) network projects measuring carbon, nutrient, and water cycles in southeastern grazinglands and sugarcane production ecosystems.

Customer concentration is distributed across multiple federal agencies. The Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service and its Region 4 office jointly account for 16 awards and $336 thousand in combined potential value; the National Science Foundation carries eight awards with no stated individual potential values; the Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service holds eight awards. These top-three customers represent 57% of all awards. The top-five customers by potential-value coverage represent 93% of combined potential value, with a gap between award count and dollar concentration — Fish and Wildlife Service awards dominate the dollars despite being split across regional and headquarters offices, while NSF awards are numerous but lack transparent individual valuations in the source.

Recent activity shows modest growth: two awards in 2022, four each in 2021 and 2023, eight in 2024, and three in 2025. Only two awards face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, carrying combined potential value of $101 thousand and representing minimal recompete cliff exposure. The vendor holds no parent contract vehicles (GWACs, IDIQs, BPAs) and operates solely through federal grant and cooperative-agreement mechanisms. Sub-recipient work is routed through University of Florida and University of Illinois as prime grantees. Place of performance includes the Venus, Florida headquarters and satellite research sites across Florida, including Lake Wales Ridge National Wildlife Refuge, DeLuca Preserve, Avon Park Air Force Range, and the University of Florida Range Cattle Research Center.