Design Interactive, LLC

Design Interactive, LLC, a woman-owned small business headquartered in Orlando, Florida, is a prime contractor (87% of recent awards) and occasional subcontractor on research and development contracts across defense and civilian federal agencies, with a primary focus on small business innovation programs and indefinite delivery vehicles. The company competes predominantly under total small business set-asides on SBIR and STTR vehicles, with some full-and-open work on larger defense IDVs and civilian agency contracts.

Design Interactive specializes in augmented reality, virtual reality, adaptive training systems, and immersive learning environments tailored to military readiness, medical training, and operational effectiveness. Representative prime work includes a $1.5 million SBIR Phase II contract with the Office of the Secretary of Defense for equal employment opportunity practitioner tools (completion April 2028), a $2 million SBIR Phase II award from Naval Sea Systems Command for Space-Based Infrared System High research (completion September 2028), a $1.3 million Defense Health Agency SBIR Phase IIB contract for the ASCLEPIUS military medical training program (completion January 2028), and a $3.8 million Defense Health Agency SBIR Phase III contract for augmented mobile medical training across service branches (completion March 2026). On transportation and civilian missions, the company holds a $999,442 Department of Transportation SBIR Phase IIB contract for readiness assessment technology (completion April 2027) and a $999,999 Department of Transportation SBIR Phase IIB award for the Mobile Intoxication Management Tool ignition-interlock mobile application (completion December 2026). Civilian work extends to a $100,000 EPA SBIR Phase I contract for generative AI training for emergency responders (awarded December 2024) and a $20,000 Federal Law Enforcement Training Center purchase order for adaptive training updates.

Design Interactive holds four major indefinite delivery vehicles anchoring its federal footprint. The company received a $4 billion SeaPort Next Generation (SeaPort-NxG) multiple-award IDIQ from Naval Sea Systems Command effective January 2025 through January 2029, enabling competition for task orders in systems engineering and advanced technology solutions across the Navy enterprise. An Air Force Rapid Sustainment Office $975 million indefinite delivery contract awarded July 2024 (completion July 2033) positions Design Interactive to compete for task orders on Air Force sustainment modernization and warfighter readiness initiatives. A $151 billion Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD) multiple-award IDIQ from the Missile Defense Agency (awarded December 2025, completion December 2035) covers research, development, prototyping, systems engineering, and modernization for multi-domain defense against air, missile, space, cyber, and hybrid threats. A NASA Johnson Space Center NASA Open Innovation Services 3 (NOIS3) $474,988,000 GWAC awarded June 2025 (completion May 2027) provides access to crowd-based challenges, prize competitions, and innovation platforms across federal agencies. A GSA Federal Supply Schedule contract effective April 2024 through April 2029 ($6 million ceiling) carries 31 labor categories spanning $76.19 to $348.98 per hour across engineering services, research and development, and military-aerospace applications; roles carry high school through bachelor's education requirements and no security-clearance mandates.

Customer concentration is heavily weighted toward defense research and development. The top five funding agencies by award count — Department of the Navy Office of Naval Research (44 awards, $26.9 million potential value), Department of the Air Force Research Laboratory (24 awards, $6.6 million), Department of the Army Research Development and Engineering Command (21 awards, $12.5 million), Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (14 awards, $3.9 million), and Department of the Army Medical Command (12 awards, $8.3 million) — comprise 58% of recent awards. However, potential-value rankings diverge sharply: the Navy's Naval Sea Systems Command anchors the portfolio at $4 billion (nearly all from the SeaPort-NxG IDIQ), the Air Force commands $977.3 million (dominated by the Rapid Sustainment Office vehicle), and NASA Johnson Space Center holds $475.8 million (the NOIS3 GWAC). Office of Naval Research and Army R&D combined represent $39.4 million in smaller SBIR and non-IDV work. The company serves 37 distinct federal agencies across the portfolio.

Award volume has grown from 12 in 2022 to a peak of 26 in 2024, declining to 16 in 2025 and 6 awards so far in 2026; this modulation reflects the cyclical nature of SBIR solicitations and the dominance of three large IDVs awarded in late 2024 and late 2025. Eleven awards with ultimate completion dates in the next twenty-four months carry combined potential value of $28.4 million, representing near-term recompete exposure concentrated in SBIR Phase II and Phase IIB continuations and Department of Veterans Affairs instructional systems design work.

Design Interactive's NAICS concentration is decisive: 83 awards fall under NAICS 541711 (Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences), with an additional 48 awards in NAICS 541712 (the same category excluding biotechnology). PSC coding emphasizes R&D across applied research, exploratory development, operational systems development, and basic research — 70 awards combined. The company competes across engineering services and computer systems design on smaller civil-agency and VA procurements.

SCI-reported federal service contract activity totaled $2.2 million invoiced across FY2022 through FY2024, with $364 thousand in FY2022 (1.0 FTE), $891 thousand in FY2023 (2.9 FTEs), and $945 thousand in FY2024 (3.9 FTEs). This data covers only service contracts exceeding the $150,000 SCI threshold and excludes the bulk of Design Interactive's SBIR R&D work, goods, and classified activity. Median government-paid rates on SCI-reportable prime work ran around $150.92 per hour, with a 10th percentile of $126.99 per hour and 90th percentile of $177.29 per hour. The company self-performed all SCI-reported labor with zero subcontractor engagement on those contracts.

Across its subcontractor footprint, Design Interactive subs to Lockheed Martin Corporation on nine training-technology service items including the Stimulation Enhancement and Modernization Suite (SEAMS), Streamlined Marine After-Action Review Tool Visualization (SMART-VIZ), Next-Generation Expeditionary Training Technologies (NEXTT), and Applied Research for Infantry Training Enhancement (ARITE), performing human factors engineering and visualization development. The company also subs to CACI Technologies on labor and services modifications and to Aptima Inc. on systematic reconciliation framework research and development. At the sub-grant level, Design Interactive collaborates with Pennsylvania State University on the VeriPro (Verified Probabilistic Cognitive Reasoning for Tactical Mixed Reality Systems) project, with multiple funding tranches awarded between July 2024 and May 2026.

Usability consulting services, computer systems design services, virtual environment design services, human computer interaction consulting