CDM Federal Programs Corporation

CDM Federal Programs Corporation, doing business as CDM Smith, is a large for-profit engineering and construction firm that operates as the subsidiary prime on federal contracts and grants across environmental remediation, water resources, hazard mitigation, and infrastructure services. The company competes full and open—no set-asides—and acts predominantly as a prime contractor (97% of recent awards), with a parent company, CDM Smith Inc., headquartered in Boston. CDM Federal Programs Corporation maintains its own operational headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia.

CDM Smith's federal footprint is broad and deep. The firm serves 69 distinct customer agencies across 981 recent awards worth $5.7 billion in combined potential value, with $812.2 million obligated to date. The vendor concentrates work in environmental remediation and water resources: Environmental Protection Agency Region 3 accounts for $1.31 billion across 15 awards (primarily EPA Remedial Acquisition Framework delivery orders for Superfund site investigations, feasibility studies, and remedial design); FEMA combines $570.5 million across 74 awards (hazard mitigation technical assistance, program support, and disaster recovery); Naval Facilities Engineering Command carries $443.7 million across 131 awards (utilities infrastructure, facilities engineering, infrastructure assessments); and the Army Corps of Engineers totals $104.4 million across 107 awards (water resources analysis, dam and levee safety tools, navigation systems). These five customers account for 51% of combined potential value.

Core capability is Superfund remediation, environmental investigation, and remedial design under EPA's Remedial Acquisition Framework (RAF) Design and Engineering Services vehicle—70 task orders, $298.1 million. Representative work includes a $7.04 million remedial design for San German OU2 in Puerto Rico (EPA Region 2, August 2025), $8.063 million oversight support for Alkali Lake Superfund Site in Oregon (EPA Region 10, April 2023), and $4.76 million remedial design at Michner Plating in Michigan (EPA Region 5, September 2023). Water resources support spans the Army Corps' $48.3 million Water Resources Analytical and Professional Support Services IDIQ (76 reported task orders), covering dam and levee safety tool development, National Inventory of Dams modernization, risk analysis training, and feasibility studies. Federal Emergency Management Agency hazard mitigation work runs through a $99.3 million single-award Blanket Purchase Agreement (established September 19, 2023, through September 18, 2028) for non-architectural and engineering support to ten FEMA regions and headquarters; recent BPA calls total $19.5 million for technical review, environmental and historic preservation compliance, program integration, and direct technical assistance to disadvantaged communities. Specialized work includes PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) investigation and remediation—Environmental Security Technology Certification Program contracts for field validation of PFAS sampling methodologies, in situ soil flushing, and mechanistic investigation of PFAS assembly on environmental surfaces ($1.0–$1.86 million each). Infrastructure work for Naval Facilities Engineering Command covers utilities privatization business case analysis, water and wastewater system assessments, electric utility evaluations, and facilities engineering support across naval installations worldwide, with a $90 million single-award IDIQ (April 7, 2026 through April 6, 2031) for utility management and facilities engineering at Atlantic and Pacific area commands.

Vehicle position reflects established relationships: the EPA RAF DES vehicle anchors the largest share of dollars; the Army Corps' Water Resources Analytical and Professional Support Services IDIQ ($48.3 million) generates recurring task orders for water systems work; FEMA's Hazard Mitigation Technical Assistance BPA ($99.3 million) serves as a recurring vehicle for disaster response and mitigation support; Naval Facilities Engineering Command holds multiple single and multiple-award IDIQs (including a new $90 million utilities contract and an earlier $45 million International Boundary and Water Commission architectural and engineering IDIQ) that generate steady delivery orders for facilities and infrastructure assessments. GSA Multiple Award Schedule presence supports task orders across EPA, FHWA, and other agencies for water consulting, environmental enforcement support, and technical research. The vendor recently secured a $1 billion multiple-award IDIQ with the Coast Guard (June 2, 2026) for architect-engineering services nationwide and in U.S. territories.

Activity growth accelerated through FY2024—awards jumped from 35 in 2022 to 66 in 2023, then moderated to 54 in 2024 and 40 in 2025. A recompete cliff of $129.1 million in combined potential value looms across 67 awards completing within the next 24 months, signaling substantial recompete opportunity for competitors and risk exposure for the vendor.

SCI-reported service-contract invoicing from federal work reached $58.1 million in FY2024 across 158 FTEs, up from $27.7 million in FY2022 across 97 FTEs—sustained growth trajectory. Median government-paid hourly rate on federal service contracts stands at $155.78/hr, with rates spanning $71.01/hr (10th percentile, entry-level technical staff) to $248.23/hr (90th percentile, senior technical experts). The vendor self-performs approximately 98% of labor on prime contracts; across 31 named SCI subcontractors, subs account for just 2% of total contractor hours, indicating CDM Smith builds and operates its own delivery teams for core work. GSA labor categories range from $58.94/hr (clerical) to $276.88/hr (senior technical expert), with the profile anchored in engineering, consulting, and program management roles requiring bachelor's or master's degrees and 2–15 years of experience; no security-cleared positions are offered.

Subcontracting footprint on primes is limited but strategic. Named subs include WSP USA Environment & Infrastructure (FEMA hazard mitigation and environmental technical assistance), Aptim Federal Services (PFAS remediation engineering), Web and Writing Solutions Company (women-owned small business providing database and IT support to the Corps of Engineers), specialized drilling and geotechnical firms (Coffman Engineers, Environmental Science Corporation, C.H. Guernsey & Company for utilities assessments), and academic partners (Texas Tech University, North Carolina State University, University of Pittsburgh) on SERDP and NSF research projects related to PFAS treatment and climate-change flood mitigation. The vendor also engages analytical laboratories (Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories, Advanced Environmental Laboratories, SGS North America) and surveying firms (Martinez Couch & Associates, New England Boring Contractors) to round out site investigation and remediation delivery. This posture reflects a mix of self-delivery on core water resources and program management work, with specialized subs brought on for laboratory analysis, drilling, and field investigation at environmental remediation sites.

Federal grant activity centers on NSF climate-change flood risk evaluation (Louisiana State University Agricultural Center) and SERDP environmental technology demonstration projects, making CDM Federal Programs a modest player in the grant-recipient space relative to its contract dominance.

Corporate structure includes ten named joint ventures and subsidiary entities—CDM / Css-Dynamac JV, CDM Stanley A Joint Venture, CDM Smith-Woolpert JV, CDM Smith-Cowi JV, and others—signaling strategic partnerships to capture work requiring specialized expertise in specific geographies or technical domains. The parent, CDM Smith Inc., is a $3+ billion global engineering and construction enterprise, allowing CDM Federal Programs to access substantial capital, technical depth, and subcontracting relationships across water, environment, transportation, energy, and facilities sectors.