Charles River Laboratories, Inc.

Charles River Laboratories, Inc., doing business as Charles River, is a for-profit manufacturer and provider of laboratory animal procurement, maintenance, health surveillance, diagnostic testing, vaccine candidate development, and specialized biomedical research support services operating as a prime contractor (99% of recent awards) across federal research and health agencies with no SBA set-aside posture. The company competes on full-and-open basis across a portfolio centered on NIH institutes, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense, and Food and Drug Administration, with headquarters in Wilmington, Massachusetts and place of performance spanning Wilmington, Bethesda, Durham, Tampa, Silver Spring, and other domestic locations.

Charles River's capability portfolio is grounded in vertically integrated laboratory animal services — procurement and breeding of mice, rats, guinea pigs, rabbits, hamsters, fish, and other specialized models; health surveillance and diagnostic testing via serological, PCR, and pathology assays; cryopreservation and embryo rederivation; vaccine candidate preparation and characterization; and facility management for animal care. Representative work includes a $185.1 million cost-plus-fixed-fee definitive contract with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (awarded March 14, 2024, exercised through March 13, 2029) for management, operation, and professional services at NIAID animal care facilities in Bethesda; a $65.1 million indefinite delivery contract with the National Institute on Aging (September 30, 2022, through September 29, 2032) for development and maintenance of multigenotypic aged mouse colonies; a $29.8 million ten-year IDC with NIA (September 30, 2023, through September 29, 2033) for aged rat colony operations; a $35 million Blanket Purchase Agreement with the Defense Health Agency (July 9, 2025, through July 8, 2030) for small laboratory research animals, breeding colonies, and cryopreservation; and a $48.6 million indefinite delivery contract with the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (August 12, 2024, through August 11, 2030) for safety evaluation and toxicology studies supporting drug development. Smaller delivery orders across the portfolio address clinical trial materials for influenza, dengue, and metapneumovirus vaccines; influenza challenge virus production; pharmacokinetics and pharmacology studies; endotoxin detection systems and test cartridges; and aquatic animal care services.

SCI-reported invoicing for federal service contracts above the $150,000 threshold totaled $171.8 million across fiscal years 2022–2025, with $43.3 million (375 FTEs) in FY2022, $48.1 million (368 FTEs) in FY2023, $51.9 million (407 FTEs) in FY2024, and $28.4 million (201 FTEs) in FY2025. This reflects a partial and declining view of Charles River's federal services revenue — SCI excludes goods, products, and classified work, and FY2025 figures are incomplete year-to-date. Government-paid hourly rates on prime service contracts (derived from invoiced dollars and hours) cluster at a median around $64.92/hr, ranging from approximately $32.11/hr at the tenth percentile to $175.90/hr at the ninety-fifth percentile, indicating a workforce spanning entry-level technical support through senior scientific and management roles. Charles River's GSA Schedule labor offerings are narrow — two veterinary pathologist categories at $351.13–$396.57/hr, both PhD-level, no clearance required — suggesting the Schedule serves a minimal role in the vendor's federal services delivery compared to direct contracting.

Customer concentration centers on National Institutes of Health components. By award count, the top five agencies account for 20% of the 4,720 total awards: the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (401 awards, $74.5 million combined value), the Office of the Director (213 awards, $118.6 million), the Army Medical Command (130 awards, $24.4 million), the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (100 awards, $240.2 million), and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (99 awards, $416 million). By potential value, the top five agencies represent 41% of the $4.21 billion combined potential value across all awards: the Office of Logistics and Acquisition Operations (96 awards, $454 million), NIAID (99 awards, $416 million), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (69 awards, $319.1 million), the National Institute on Aging (56 awards, $307.8 million), and NIEHS (100 awards, $240.2 million). The volume-to-value divergence — NICHD dominates by count but is mid-tier by dollars, while Logistics and Acquisition Operations anchors dollars through fewer, larger IDCs — signals that Charles River's high-frequency work with NICHD on smaller task orders funds a lower proportion of total dollars than its large multi-year commitments to equipment, facility operations, and aged animal colony programs through Logistics and Acquisition Operations and NIA.

Charles River holds positions on multiple large indefinite-delivery vehicles. The top five by task order count are HHSN263200800006I (265 task orders, $47.4 million), HHSN263201300011I (202 task orders, $39.9 million), 75N98019D00042 (95 task orders, $197.5 million), HHSN263201000049I (69 task orders, $4.1 million), and 00268200302DN020R34194 (48 task orders, $10.9 million). The single-award IDIQ 75N98019D00042 with the Office of Logistics and Acquisition Operations and NINDS carries the highest dollar density, anchoring $197.5 million across 95 task orders. The company's vehicle roster reflects concentration in HHS IDCs and agency-specific indefinite delivery contracts rather than government-wide acquisition vehicles; GSA Schedule and federal-supply-schedule participation are minimal relative to direct-award IDIQ relationships.

Recent activity shows award volume declining: 67 awards in 2022, 42 in 2023, 59 in 2024, 33 in 2025, and 28 through October 2026. Over the next twenty-four months, 27 awards (combined potential value $70.4 million) face ultimate completion and thus recompete risk. The largest concentration is in aged rodent colony delivery orders under the $29.8 million (FY2024–FY2033) and $65.1 million (FY2023–FY2032) NIA indefinite delivery contracts, where annual task orders in the $1–$7 million range renew each September.

Charles River operates as a vertically integrated prime contractor with minimal subcontractor engagement: 99% of awards are prime contracts; sub-award activity (29 subs) is rare and recent, including work under prime contractors MEI Mail Services Inc., Camris International LLC, and Colorado State University on toxicology, infectious disease intervention, and vaccine development tasks. Across SCI-reportable prime service contracts, the average subcontractor hours share is 0%, indicating Charles River delivers the work in-house and does not route substantial federal labor to downstream subs.

The corporate structure includes a named subsidiary, Charles River Laboratories Cleveland, Inc., whose operational role is not detailed in the source. Award data does not distinguish work performed by this subsidiary from the parent entity.

Top NAICS categories reflect the core service mix: All Other Animal Production (549 awards), Veterinary Services (316 awards), Testing Laboratories and Services (301 awards), Research and Development in Biotechnology (270 awards), and Fur-Bearing Animal and Rabbit Production (74 awards). PSC codes similarly highlight Live Animals, Not Raised For Food (2,237 awards), Support–Professional: Veterinary/Animal Care (593 awards), Laboratory Equipment and Supplies (521 awards), Medical and Surgical Instruments (338 awards), and Reference Laboratory Testing (284 awards). This category distribution confirms Charles River's positioning as the federal government's primary supplier of specialized laboratory research animals and associated diagnostic, testing, and husbandry services for biomedical research.