James Bell Associates Inc.

James Bell Associates Inc., doing business as JBA, delivers program evaluation, research, technical assistance, and implementation support services to federal health, human services, and education agencies as a prime contractor on a $1.35 billion combined-potential-value award portfolio spanning 121 contracts and grants. The Arlington, Virginia-based for-profit professional services firm operates predominantly as a prime contractor (89% of awards) with no SBA set-aside designations across most of its portfolio, though recent work includes total small business set-asides on discretionary grant technical assistance and the Tribal Home Visiting Resources Institute for Excellence (THRIVE) program.

JBA's federal customer base is heavily concentrated in the Department of Health and Human Services ecosystem. HHS accounts for approximately 87% of combined potential value across the top five customer agencies, split principally between the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration ($597.8 million across 31 awards) and the Health Resources and Services Administration Headquarters ($595.1 million across 8 awards). The Administration for Children and Families supplies an additional $44.5 million across 14 awards, with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and other HHS sub-agencies providing smaller volumes. JBA has maintained this HHS concentration across its 33-year federal footprint; recent representative work includes a $26.8 million cost-plus-fixed-fee definitive contract with ACF to operate the THRIVE technical assistance center serving tribal home visiting programs through 2029, a $9.9 million time-and-materials delivery order supporting child welfare court organizations across states and tribes, a $4.8 million total small business set-aside delivery order from HHS's Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration for evaluation technical assistance to Children's Bureau discretionary grant recipients, and a $3.6 million sole-source delivery order from ACF investigating the effect of prenatal alcohol and drug programs on child welfare outcomes. JBA holds a primary vehicle position on the $344.7 million single-award Evaluations and Evidence Building IDIQ awarded by HHS on September 25, 2024, with five-year base-plus-options performance through September 2026, and operates under the GSA Multiple Award Schedule and HHS Program Support Center IDIQ to place additional task orders.

JBA's service-contract work spans program evaluation methodology, evidence-building for maternal health and early childhood development, evaluation of child welfare court interventions, implementation science for tribal and American Indian and Alaska Native populations, and evaluation support for federal grants administration. Across SCI-reportable prime contracts from FY2022–FY2024, JBA invoiced $26.8 million and deployed roughly 30–32 full-time equivalents per fiscal year; median government-paid rates ran approximately $155/hr, with senior research labor pricing through $240/hr and executive-level roles reaching $332/hr on the GSA Schedule. JBA's labor portfolio across the Professional Services Schedule spans 19 active categories from project-support roles at $78/hr entry level through senior research and executive positions, with no security-cleared postures offered, reflecting the firm's non-defense civilian posture.

JBA operates with limited subcontractor engagement on its prime delivery footprint. Across SCI-reportable prime contracts, subcontractor hours averaged 13% of total contractor hours, with 24 named subcontractors reported across the portfolio. Named sub-award work shows JBA delivering technical assistance and evaluation support under larger education and research primes, including Education Development Center on home visiting workforce development and evaluation tasks, Johns Hopkins University on a precision home visiting research network, and Zero to Three National Center on infant-toddler court evaluation and early childhood development systems-building work. Sub-award activity centers on evaluation methodology, technical assistance delivery, and data collection and analysis for early childhood and child welfare research initiatives.

Recent annual award volume has softened — nine awards in 2024 declined to five in 2025 and two in 2026 year-to-date — while the recompete cliff window (next 24 months) shows six awards with combined potential value of $13.8 million reaching ultimate completion and facing renewal competition. The $344.7 million IDIQ award in FY2024 anchors the current pipeline, though the broad dispersion across HHS sub-agencies and the firm's long tenure (first award on record from May 1991) suggests established incumbent relationships across maternal health, child welfare, and early childhood development program evaluation work.

JBA provides program evaluation, evaluation-related technical assistance, policy analysis, organizational assessment, performance measurement, and knowledge development and applications services to public and private sector organizations.