Cengage Learning, Inc.

Cengage Learning, Inc., doing business as Concept Media, is an educational textbook and digital curriculum publisher that sells Advanced Placement courses, upper-level mathematics resources, engineering digital courseware, video communications materials, and library reference databases to federal agencies as a prime contractor competing full-and-open with no set-aside designations. The company is a for-profit corporate entity headquartered in Independence, Kentucky, and operates across primary NAICS 511130 (Book Publishers) and 611710 (Educational Support Services), representing the overwhelming bulk of its federal work through educational materials delivery rather than IT or professional services.

Cengage Learning's federal footprint is heavily concentrated in K–12 educational content delivery. The Department of Defense Education Activity accounts for 473 of the vendor's 774 prime awards (61% of the award count) and $84.1 million of $90.7 million in combined potential value (93% of the dollar total). Recent representative work includes a $180 thousand delivery order from DoDEA in July 2026 for upper-level mathematics curricular resources covering precalculus, financial algebra, AP Calculus, and AP Statistics; a $17.25 thousand DoDEA award in September 2025 for two yearlong engineering and technology high school digital courseware; and a $39 thousand June 2025 DoDEA delivery order for Career and Technical Education video courseware. Outside DoDEA, the vendor holds smaller but recurring work with the Bureau of Indian Education (27 awards combining for $427 thousand), the Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service (13 awards, $472 thousand), the Department of Transportation Maritime Administration (30 awards, $360 thousand), and the Coast Guard (multiple GALE library resource subscription renewals). The most recent award is a $25.05 thousand September 2026 purchase order from the Bureau of Naval Personnel for a Gale Online Full Text Scholarly Journals Database subscription through September 2027.

Cengage Learning's customer concentration is extreme and single-customer dependent. DoDEA represents the sole material revenue concentration; the next four customer agencies combined (Treasury IRS, Maritime Administration, Bureau of Indian Education, Department of the Army) represent fewer than 80 awards and less than $1.3 million in potential value, or roughly 1.4% of the total. The vendor places essentially all task orders against DoDEA through a single-award Indefinite Delivery Contract (HE125406D0006, ceiling $608.974 thousand, ultimate completion March 9, 2028) that anchors 242 of the vendor's task orders and $68 million in combined potential value. Three additional DoDEA IDVs (HE125416D0001, HE125412D0017, HE125418D0002) carry 158 additional task orders and $2.4 million combined. Outside the DoDEA vehicle stack, Cengage operates through a General Services Administration Federal Supply Schedule position, issuing occasional purchase orders and delivery orders to Treasury, Coast Guard, and the Bureau of Indian Education.

Activity has declined year over year. Cengage recorded 11 awards in 2022, declining to 7 in 2024, 7 in 2025, and 5 through September 2026. Only two awards carry ultimate completion dates within the next twenty-four months, with combined potential value of $205 thousand — a minimal recompete exposure, though the lack of pipeline risk reflects the small recent award cadence rather than program stability. The vendor holds no federal contract subcontract relationships; 100% of its portfolio is prime contractor work. All awards are firm fixed-price, unset-aside buys issued under full-and-open competition.