Cems Engineering Inc.

Cems Engineering Inc., a for-profit professional services firm based in Summerville, South Carolina, delivers architectural, engineering, design, construction administration, and project management services to federal defense and civilian agencies almost entirely as a prime contractor on full-and-open (unrestricted) delivery orders and indefinite-delivery contracts.

Cems' customer base concentrates heavily on the Department of Defense and Army Corps of Engineers. The top five funding agencies account for 56 percent of awards: the United States Marine Corps (155 awards, $24.4 million combined potential value); the Department of the Army Corps of Engineers Savannah District (74 awards, $420.2 million combined potential value); the Department of the Navy (58 awards, $1.5 million combined potential value); the General Services Administration Public Buildings Service Region 4 (27 awards, $12.2 million combined potential value); and the Department of the Army Installation Management Command Southeast Region (25 awards, $10.3 million combined potential value). The potential-value rankings differ significantly: Savannah District dominates both volume and dollars, but when measured by combined potential value across the top five customers, Savannah District ($420.2 million) is followed by Charleston District ($134.3 million), Air Combat Command ($73.8 million), Huntsville ($61.7 million), and New York District ($60.1 million) — a portfolio that underscores Cems' entrenchment in multi-district Army Corps architecture-engineering work and defense infrastructure modernization.

Cems holds a diversified IDQ portfolio anchored by large Army Corps of Engineers vehicles. The largest recent awards include a $249.5 million Total Small Business multiple-award contract with MICC Fort Campbell for Enterprise A-E Southeast Region services (awarded April 1, 2026); a $225 million Partial Small Business multiple-award National Guard Bureau contract for Vertical Construction Programs (awarded March 31, 2025); a $140 million Total Small Business multiple-award USACE Savannah District General Design contract (awarded October 15, 2025); a $99 million unrestricted multiple-award ENDIST Charleston contract (awarded July 21, 2025); a $49.9 million Total Small Business ENDIST New York contract (awarded October 1, 2025); a $49 million unrestricted ENDIST Mobile Horizontal Design Program contract (awarded April 1, 2026); a $33 million Total Small Business Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southeast contract (awarded January 15, 2026); and a $30 million Total Small Business ENDIST Charleston A-E IDC (awarded February 5, 2025). Recent task-order activity runs deep across these vehicles: the $240 million Savannah District A-E General Design contract (2024–2029) has generated numerous delivery orders including a $2.68 million Wilson Elementary School renovation at Fort Moore, Georgia (September 20, 2024), a $2.2 million Fire Station B377 addition and renovation in Summerville, South Carolina (February 2, 2026), a $1.28 million Combined Arms Collective Training Facility at Fort Gordon, Georgia (April 13, 2026), and an $1.19 million JSOC Building 3-3046 renovation (January 6, 2026). Named work also spans the Naval Facilities Engineering Command and Marine Corps, including facility repairs, stormwater system work, HVAC studies, and commissioning services at installations from MCAS Beaufort to Townsend Bombing Range.

Cems competes predominantly under full-and-open (unrestricted) delivery orders despite holding a meaningful share of Total Small Business set-aside vehicles. Of 607 total awards in the source, 604 are prime awards (100 percent), with only three sub-awards to Science Applications International Corporation for architectural and structural engineering services at Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic (August 26, 2024). This split reflects a prime-first posture. Recent activity has remained relatively steady — 19 awards in 2022, declining to 9 in 2023 before recovering to 14 in 2024 and 20 in 2025, with 7 awards visible in the first quarter of 2026. Within the next twenty-four months, 15 awards with combined potential value of $20.1 million reach ultimate completion and face recompete.

SCI-reportable invoicing on federal service contracts above the $150,000 threshold totaled $5.8 million across FY2022–FY2024 (prime contracts only): $2.9 million in FY2022 across 6.3 FTEs, $1.7 million in FY2023 across 3.3 FTEs, and $1.2 million in FY2024 across 17.4 FTEs. The FY2024 FTE count reflects a single large contract with concentrated labor delivery; the trajectory suggests volatility in SCI-reportable activity rather than steady scaling. Government-paid hourly rates on SCI-prime contracts ran a median of $277.64 per hour, with the 10th percentile at $69.03 per hour and the 90th percentile at $832.13 per hour, indicating a mix of junior-to-senior labor delivery and highly specialized technical roles. Across SCI-reportable prime contracts, subcontractors performed zero percent of total contractor hours, signaling Cems builds its own delivery teams for work captured in the SCI dataset rather than relying on sub engagement. Combined potential value across all 607 awards totals $1.56 billion, with $122.2 million obligated (8 percent of potential value), reflecting the pipeline-heavy nature of large Army Corps IDIQs.

Cems maintains a 46-agency customer footprint spanning defense, civilian infrastructure, and GSA modernization work. Work centers on PSC codes Architect and Engineering–General (253 awards) and Architect and Engineering–General Landscaping, Interior Layout, and Designing (168 awards), with secondary concentration in construction-support architect-engineering (39 awards for administrative and miscellaneous buildings). NAICS alignment runs 348 awards under Engineering Services and 200 under Architectural Services. The vendor has held a registered federal contractor status since 2002, indicating a two-decade presence in defense infrastructure and civilian facility modernization. Cems operates as a prime-only shop on its core portfolio, reserving sub engagement for specialized technical work under large integrators, and competes full-and-open across the Army Corps of Engineers, the National Guard Bureau, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, and the Marine Corps, with modest set-aside activity concentrated in newly awarded Total Small Business IDIQs effective through 2030–2031.

Full service Engineering and Architectural firm