Deutsches Zentrum FÜR Luft- UND Raumfahrt E.V.

Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt E.V. (DLR), doing business as DLR Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt E.V., is a German non-profit aerospace research organization that operates as a prime contractor to NASA and U.S. Air Force agencies, delivering specialized biomedical research facilities, aerodynamics testing infrastructure, and hypersonic fluid-dynamics experimentation services. DLR competes on full-and-open contracts with no small business set-asides across its federal footprint.

DLR's federal customer base is heavily concentrated with NASA Johnson Space Center, which accounts for seven awards totaling $94.7 million in combined potential value — representing 81% of all awards by count and 100% of the combined potential value across DLR's recent footprint. The remaining customer agencies include the Department of the Air Force (five awards), the Department of the Navy (three awards), and subordinate Air Force offices (Defense Finance and Accounting Service and Materiel Command Research Laboratory, each with three awards). NASA JSC's dominance reflects DLR's role as the incumbent provider of specialized bed rest studies facilities and personnel supporting NASA's biomedical research into the physiological effects of microgravity and countermeasure development for human spaceflight programs.

DLR holds a single-award indefinite delivery contract with NASA Johnson Space Center (Contract 80JSC022DA004, ceiling $49.9 million, ultimate completion October 31, 2026) for bed rest studies facility and staff services. Four task orders have been issued under this contract totaling $34.7 million in combined potential value, including a $5.7 million delivery order awarded April 12, 2022 (completion November 30, 2023), a $6.9 million delivery order awarded December 21, 2023 (completion December 31, 2025), and a $12.7 million delivery order awarded December 21, 2023 (completion December 31, 2026). A May 18, 2026 delivery order for $9.4 million covers research and scientific services under the DLR3 contract vehicle through October 31, 2027. Performance on all NASA contracts occurs in Houston, Texas, leveraging DLR's established bed rest research infrastructure.

DLR's federal grant portfolio includes two Air Force-funded research awards: a $49 thousand project grant from the Air Force Research Laboratory for the Boundary Layer Transition Experiment BOLT1B (September 21, 2022, completion December 31, 2026) and a $49 thousand project grant from the Department of the Air Force for Experiments on Hypersonic Fluid-Structure Interaction in the Wind Tunnel H2K (January 1, 2022, completion April 14, 2027). A $57 thousand purchase order from NASA's Shared Services Center (December 14, 2021, completion August 30, 2022) covered a balloon telescope structure for a 20-foot telescope. DLR also holds one small award from the Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Activity has remained sparse in recent years — one award in 2020, two in 2021, three in 2022, two in 2023, and one in 2026 — with four awards (combined potential value $22.1 million) reaching ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months and facing recompete exposure. DLR operates exclusively as a prime contractor with no subcontract footprint across its federal award portfolio. The vendor's NAICS coding reflects its research infrastructure and testing-services orientation, with primary categorization in Testing Laboratories and Services (six awards) and applied-research health and transportation R&D activities. DLR has been registered in the System for Award Management since 2002.