Avant Garde Scientific, Inc.

Avant Garde Scientific, Inc., a for-profit small business based in Damascus, Maryland, operates as a prime contractor providing maintenance, repair, and equipment procurement services for complex scientific and laboratory instruments to federal research institutions. The vendor competes full-and-open without set-aside posture across most of its portfolio, though approximately 15% of its recent awards carry total small business set-aside designations. Avant Garde Scientific self-certifies as a small disadvantaged business and is not 8(a)-certified; it does not operate as a subcontractor or teaming partner — 100% of its federal footprint is prime work.

The company's capability portfolio centers on preventative maintenance and emergency repair for specialized laboratory equipment—autoclaves, cage washers, sterilizers, tunnel washers, dock lifts, and glassware washers—across federal research facilities, particularly at the National Institutes of Health. Representative work includes a $560,322 total small business set-aside purchase order from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (ultimate completion August 2028) for preventative maintenance and repair of autoclaves at NINDS facilities in Bethesda; an $818,151 full-service preventative maintenance contract from the Defense Health Agency (ultimate completion June 2028) for autoclaves, glassware washers, and drying ovens; and a $363,868 small business set-aside purchase order from the Army Medical Command (2021) for procurement and installation of a new rack washer at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research facility in Silver Spring, Maryland. The company also supplies specialized equipment—biological safety cabinets, bedding dispensers, equipment parts—and performs facility upgrades including dock lift replacement and equipment installation.

Avant Garde Scientific's customer base is heavily concentrated in civilian health and research agencies. The top five customers by potential value account for 85% of combined dollars: the Department of Health and Human Services National Institutes of Health Office of Logistics and Acquisition Operations (35 awards, $19 million combined potential value) anchors the portfolio; the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, a DOD agency (42 awards, $3.7 million); the Army Medical Command (8 awards, $1.5 million); and NIH's Office of the Director and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases complete the top tier. A second ranking by award count shows volume concentration in NIH's Office of the Director (86 awards, $1.4 million) and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (69 awards, $1.2 million), but these generate smaller dollars per award, indicating transactional, task-order-driven relationships. NIH and its component institutes comprise roughly 65% of all recent awards.

The vendor holds position on two multi-year indefinite delivery contracts: a pair of single-award IDCs with the Office of Logistics and Acquisition Operations, each ceiling $388,044 and running through June 2025 and June 2026, respectively, both for cage wash and laboratory instrument preventative maintenance and repair at NIH Building 10; and a $10 million Blanket Purchase Agreement established in April 2021 with the Office of Logistics and Acquisition Operations for operation, maintenance, and procurement of medical and scientific equipment supporting NIH research programs, against which the vendor has issued numerous task orders. The BPA HU000116AJV02 carries 32 task orders (combined potential value $1.4 million); IDC 75N98018D00045 carries 11 task orders ($1.3 million); and IDC HHSN263201300009I accounts for 18 task orders ($461 thousand). Task orders against these vehicles include quarterly and annual preventative maintenance calls, emergency repairs, equipment procurement, and facility upgrades at NIH campuses in Bethesda and Damascus, Maryland, and at Uniformed Services University facilities in Bethesda.

Activity has been relatively flat to declining. The vendor recorded 12 awards in 2022, 16 in 2023, 11 in 2024, 9 in 2025, and 3 in the first quarter of 2026 — a downward trajectory offset partly by larger single awards. Only three awards (combined potential value $842 thousand) face ultimate completion inside the next twenty-four months, indicating limited recompete exposure in the near term. The portfolio is weighted toward smaller individual task orders and purchase orders (median ceiling values in the $15,000–$45,000 range) issued against larger standing vehicles, with occasional anchor contracts in the $250,000–$800,000 range. The vendor's primary NAICS footprint is 811310 (Commercial and Industrial Machinery and Equipment Repair and Maintenance) and related repair codes, and its PSC profile emphasizes Maint/Repair/Rebuild of Equipment—Instruments and Laboratory Equipment (154 awards), with secondary work in veterinary and animal care support (33 awards).

Service Contract Inventory data shows minimal SCI-reportable federal services revenue above the $150,000 threshold; the vendor appears to execute the bulk of its federal work through smaller purchase orders and task orders below or near the SCI reporting boundary, and through equipment procurement and installation services that fall outside SCI scope. This profile is consistent with Avant Garde Scientific's role as a facility-support and equipment-services contractor to NIH and other federal research institutions, delivering on-demand maintenance and repair rather than large, labor-intensive service contracts. The company operates a lean, field-based delivery model anchored to its Damascus, Maryland headquarters and NIH's Bethesda campus.

Service and repairs to biomedical equipment such as sterilizers, cage washers, steam generators. Also installation of such equipment.