Associated Builders, Inc.

Associated Builders, Inc., a minority-owned and Black American-owned construction and facilities services company based in Hyattsville, Maryland, delivers specialized infrastructure, renovation, and maintenance work to federal cultural institutions as a prime contractor on a full-and-open competitive basis, with no reliance on set-aside vehicles. Associated Builders is a subsidiary of Smoot Construction LLC, also minority-owned and Black American-owned, and competes across Commercial and Institutional Building Construction (NAICS 232) and related construction PSCs without set-aside designation across its entire prime footprint.

Customer concentration is extreme and deliberate. The Smithsonian Institution accounts for 54% of all awards (217 awards, $212.1 million combined potential value) and dominates the dollar ranking by the same margin. The National Gallery of Art places the second-largest dollar volume at $33.3 million across 69 awards. These two cultural institutions anchor 87% of the award count and 80% of combined potential value across Associated Builders' portfolio. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) represents the third-largest customer by dollars ($59.1 million across 48 awards) but ranks third by count, signaling that NIST orders are larger on average than Smithsonian or National Gallery work. The General Services Administration (Public Buildings Service, National Capital Region) and the Department of the Navy round out active customers with minimal presence.

Associated Builders' recent work illustrates a capability portfolio centered on HVAC system replacement, chiller and boiler plant renewal, air handling unit upgrades, perimeter security and infrastructure improvements, and specialized renovations at federal museums and research facilities. Representative recent prime contracts include a $8.4 million delivery order from the Smithsonian for replacement of air handling units at Pod 1 and Street facilities (awarded June 2024), a $5.3 million firm fixed-price order for workplace improvements at the National Museum of American History (September 2023), a $11.3 million boiler plant renewal project (July 2023), and a $10.4 million replacement of air handling units in collections storage at the National Museum of American History (September 2023). Work at the National Gallery of Art focuses on carpentry, display structure fabrication, archive hallway and facility maintenance under a single-award $11 million IDIQ carpentry contract (awarded January 2022, extended through December 2026) that has generated 47 task orders worth $4.2 million combined.

Associated Builders holds positions on five named parent IDICs. The largest by potential value is Indefinite Delivery Contract F16CC10364 (40 task orders, $129.3 million combined potential value), followed by Basic Ordering Agreement F0436CC10248 (34 task orders, $58.4 million). The National Gallery IDIQ carpentry contract (NGA09IDC4961GS) has generated 47 task orders worth $4.2 million. Associated Builders also places work under NIST contracts DOCSB134114CQ0039 (46 task orders, $9 million) and 33301122DFI0006 (11 task orders, $1.1 million).

Activity has declined over the last five years — fifteen awards in 2022 down to one in 2026 year-to-date. Seven awards with ultimate completion dates in the next twenty-four months carry combined potential value of $27.3 million and will face recompete. Associated Builders has no subcontract footprint; 100% of its tracked awards are prime. The vendor's federal footprint spans Washington, D.C. metropolitan area facilities (Smithsonian museums, the National Zoo, the National Gallery), NIST facilities in Gaithersburg and Suitland-Silver Hill, Maryland, and subordinate government facilities in the region. All work is full-and-open competitive with no set-aside designations, reflecting the contractor's competitive positioning within the federal marketplace for federal building construction and facilities management services to civilian cultural and research institutions.