Charles River Laboratories, Inc.

Charles River Laboratories, Inc., doing business as Charles River, supplies laboratory animals, preclinical and clinical research services, vaccine development support, and diagnostic testing to federal agencies as a prime contractor on full-and-open competitive vehicles carrying no set-aside designations. A for-profit manufacturer of goods headquartered in Wilmington, Massachusetts, Charles River competes across 79 distinct federal customer agencies primarily through indefinite delivery contracts, blanket purchase agreements, and delivery orders—capturing 4,676 prime awards (99% of recent activity) and delivering $4.18 billion in combined potential value since the early 1980s.

Charles River's federal capability portfolio centers on specialized laboratory animal procurement and maintenance, spanning rodent colonies (aged mice and rats, specific strains), guinea pigs, rabbits, and other research models; health surveillance and diagnostic testing (PRIA testing, serological and PCR assays, pathology services); cryopreservation and embryo storage; vaccine candidate preparation and characterization including influenza and coronavirus challenge virus production; and aquatic animal care services. Concrete recent work includes a $43.8 million delivery order from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (issued March 1, 2026) for animal care and research support services at Wilmington; a $185.1 million cost-plus-fixed-fee definitive contract with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (awarded March 14, 2024) to manage, operate, and provide professional and technical services for NIAID animal care facilities in Bethesda, Maryland through March 13, 2029; a $5.24 million delivery order from NIAID (September 30, 2025) for preparation and characterization of five vaccine candidates; a $29.8 million ten-year indefinite delivery contract with the National Institute on Aging (awarded September 30, 2023, extending through September 29, 2033) for development and maintenance of multigenotypic aged rat colonies supporting aging research; and a $65.1 million ten-year IDC with NIA (awarded September 30, 2022, through September 29, 2032) for multigenotypic aged mouse colony operations. SCI-reported invoicing across service contracts above the $150,000 threshold totaled $143.4 million (FY2022–FY2024), with roughly 410–464 FTEs deployed annually and median government-paid hourly rates around $64.92/hr, with senior veterinary pathologist labor priced through $175.90/hr and doctorate-level positions anchoring the rate spectrum.

Customer concentration is deep within NIH. The top five funding agencies account for 41% of combined potential value and include the NIH Office of Logistics and Acquisition Operations ($438.2 million, 101 awards), NIAID ($418.3 million, 97 awards), the NIH National Institute on Drug Abuse ($310.4 million, 66 awards), NIA ($306.5 million, 56 awards), and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences ($240.9 million, 99 awards). By award count, the NIH National Institute of Child Health and Human Development leads (401 awards, $74.5 million), followed by the NIH Office of the Director (208 awards, $115 million), the Army Medical Command (130 awards, $24.4 million), and the NIH Office of Logistics and Acquisition Operations (101 awards). Veterans Affairs and the Defense Health Agency round out significant federal users. Charles River holds a $35 million blanket purchase agreement with the Defense Health Agency (issued July 9, 2025, through July 8, 2030) for small laboratory research animals and related breeding colonies and cryopreservation services, with recent BPA calls for guinea pigs and rodents ranging $40,536 to $84,445. Key named indefinite delivery vehicles include the $48.6 million NCATS contract for safety evaluation and toxicology studies and related services for drug development (awarded August 12, 2024, through August 11, 2030), a $2.44 million USDA APHIS contract for fertilized specific pathogen-free chicken eggs (five-year IDIQ, October 12, 2022 through October 11, 2027), and a $1.83 million NIEHS IDC for laboratory animal diagnostic testing (July 18, 2024 through July 17, 2029).

Award trajectory shows recent contraction: 67 awards in 2022, declining to 42 in 2023, recovering to 59 in 2024, then dropping to 33 in 2025 and 12 year-to-date in 2026. Within the next twenty-four months, 21 awards carrying combined potential value of $66.8 million reach ultimate completion and face recompete exposure. Charles River operates as a pure prime in federal procurement (99% of recent awards), with minimal subcontractor engagement; across SCI-reportable prime contracts (FY2022–FY2024), the vendor deployed zero percent sub-hours share, indicating vertically integrated delivery. Named sub-engagements are sparse but present: the vendor subcontracts to Camris International, LLC (GLP toxicology for HIV-1 vaccine candidates), MEI Mail Services Inc. (testing services for botulism therapeutics, animal procurement), Amentum Services, Inc. (biosciences flight development program management), Colorado State University (COVID-19 vaccine development), and Battelle Memorial Institute (NTP carcinogenicity assessment), reflecting a secondary role on larger R&D and manufacturing-support vehicles where Charles River supplies specialized animal models and preclinical testing.

Charles River maintains a subsidiary, Charles River Laboratories Cleveland, Inc. (for-profit organization), and holds a $750,000 GSA Federal Supply Schedule contract (Multiple Award Schedule, active through July 31, 2027) covering laboratory testing services, veterinary pathology analysis, and aged research animals at two veterinary pathology labor categories ($351–$396/hr, doctorate-required, no clearance). The company's federal footprint is specialized and concentrated: top NAICS categories are All Other Animal Production (545 awards), Veterinary Services (316 awards), and Testing Laboratories and Services (298 awards); top PSC codes are Live Animals, Not Raised For Food (2,235 awards) and Support—Professional: Veterinary/Animal Care (593 awards). Charles River competes on technical merit and incumbent status in full-and-open procurements without set-asides, leveraging decades of incumbent relationships—particularly with NIH institutes and aging research programs—where vendor switching poses continuity and reproducibility risks sufficient to support sole-source justifications on select renewals.