Dawn VME Products

Dawn VME Products, a veteran-owned small business manufacturer based in Fremont, California, designs and manufactures specialized embedded computing hardware—Versa Module Eurocard (VME) systems, VPX backplanes, card cages, bypass boards, and custom electronic packaging—for the Department of the Navy as a prime contractor on 87% of recent awards and as a subcontractor to Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, and SRC Inc. The vendor competes full-and-open; most awards carry no set-aside designation, though Office of Naval Research and Space and Missile Systems Center purchase orders have used Total Small Business set-asides.

Customer concentration is heavily weighted to the Navy. The Department of the Navy accounts for 143 of 211 total awards (68% of the portfolio) and $8.2 million of the $8.9 million combined potential value (92%). The Naval Air Warfare Center (Naval Air Systems Command) dominates—82 prime awards worth $6.5 million—followed by Naval Sea Systems Command with 44 awards worth $1.5 million, and the Office of Naval Research with 10 awards worth $243 thousand. The Air Force maintains minimal presence (8 awards, $8 thousand). Work is performed primarily in Fremont, California, with subordinate performance locations including San Diego, California and St. Inigoes, Maryland.

The portfolio concentrates on two indefinite-delivery vehicles: the N0042107D0011 IDC (25 task orders, $781 thousand combined potential value) and the N6833513D0009 IDC (11 task orders, $958 thousand combined potential value). Both are Navy-issued vehicles. Award volume has grown from 5 in 2022 to a peak of 15 in 2024, with 12 awards in 2025 and 6 through August 2026; most recent activity is from August 2026. Only one award with ultimate completion inside the next twenty-four months appears in the source data (combined potential value $5 thousand), indicating minimal near-term recompete pressure.

Representative capability work includes a $137.6 thousand Naval Air Warfare Center sole-source award (July 2024) for custom dual 15-slot VME 64x backplanes and duro cage rails based on proprietary data rights; a $233 thousand Naval Air Warfare Center sole-source award (December 2022) for VME backplanes and duro cage rails under the same design; an $83.4 thousand Naval Air Warfare Center award (May 2025) for bypass boards, backplanes, duro cage rails, and card cages; a $93.6 thousand Naval Supply Systems Command award (March 2024) for card cage assemblies; and a $93 thousand Office of Naval Research award (December 2024, Total Small Business set-aside) for a rackmount powered enclosure. In subcontract roles, the vendor supplies backplanes, chassis, card cages, and custom VPX/VME/cPCI electronic assemblies to SRC Inc. under the Multi-Domain Agile Condor Enhancements (MDACE) program (multiple task orders since 2022), provides VPX and VPX thermal chassis assemblies to Lockheed Martin under the Advanced Technology Support Program, designs targeting network racks for Boeing, and supplies component manufacturing and circuit card assemblies to Northrop Grumman and Raytheon on upgrade and development programs.

By NAICS, the portfolio reflects electronic hardware manufacturing dominance: 103 awards under Electronic Computer Manufacturing (334111), 33 under Printed Circuit Assembly Manufacturing (334418), and 8 each under Other Electronic Component Manufacturing and Engineering Services. PSC codes align—44 awards under Electrical And Electronic Assemblies, Boards, Cards, And Associated Hardware, and 23 under Information Technology Equipment System Configuration. The vendor's market footprint is narrowly specialized: custom embedded systems design and manufacture for defense and aerospace applications, with minimal civilian agency exposure and no presence on government-wide acquisition vehicles such as GWACs or GSA Schedules.

COMPUTER HARDWARE FOR VMEBUS, cPCI, VXIBUS, SBUS, SUNBUS (TM), BACKPLANES, FORM FACTOR ADAPTORS, EXTENDER BOARDS, SLOT BYPASS BOARDS, SLOT LOAD BOARDS, CARD CAGES, CHASSIS, ENCLOSURES. TM/SUNBUS IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC.