Automate Scientific, Inc.

Automate Scientific, Inc., a Berkeley, California-based manufacturer of precision biomedical instrumentation, sells electrophysiology recording systems, patch clamp amplifiers, digitizers, micropipette pullers, and multi-electrode array systems to federal research agencies exclusively as a prime contractor. The company operates in the full-and-open competitive space with no recurring small-business set-aside posture across its prime footprint, though two recent awards carry total small business designations (Army Corps of Engineers laser micropipette puller in September 2025, Agricultural Research Service micropipette puller in September 2022). Automate Scientific is a for-profit manufacturer classified under primary NAICS 334516 (Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing), with PSC codes split between Laboratory Equipment and Supplies (44 awards) and Medical and Surgical Instruments, Equipment, and Supplies (11 awards).

Customer concentration sits with the National Institutes of Health and subordinate institutes. The top five customer entities account for 43% of awards by count but only 7% of combined potential value — a distribution that reflects high volume of small equipment orders across NIH institutes coupled with a smaller number of higher-dollar Army and VA awards. The National Institute on Drug Abuse leads by count with 13 awards ($230 thousand combined potential value), followed by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (8 awards, $173 thousand), the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (5 awards, $83 thousand), and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (3 awards, $52 thousand). The Department of the Army Materiel Command's Research Development and Engineering Command ranks highest by potential value ($253 thousand across 2 awards), anchored by a $133.2 thousand multi-electrode array system to the U.S. Army Research Laboratory in September 2023. Automate Scientific maintains a $10 million Blanket Purchase Agreement with the National Institutes of Health, established March 26, 2021, with performance period through March 31, 2026; three task orders under this BPA total $40 thousand in combined potential value.

Representative recent awards include a $24.3 thousand MultiClamp 700B patch clamp amplifier system purchase order from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences in April 2026, a $57.4 thousand amplifier and digitizer procurement from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in September 2024, a $50.6 thousand automated patch clamp system sold to the Department of Veterans Affairs in June 2023, and a $133.2 thousand multi-electrode array system awarded to the Army Research Laboratory in September 2023. Activity has remained flat at four awards per year across 2022–2024, with one award in 2025 and two in 2026. One award carrying $24 thousand in potential value faces completion within the next twenty-four months, presenting minimal recompete exposure. Automate Scientific has operated continuously as a federal contractor since at least 2006 and does not subcontract; all 72 awards in the source represent prime work, and the vendor carries no identified sub-awards.