Elsevier Inc.

Elsevier Inc., doing business as Reed Exhibitions, a subsidiary of Relx Inc., sells scientific research platforms, clinical training software, technical reference databases, and peer-reviewed journal subscriptions to federal agencies as a prime contractor on over 895 awards (98% of recent activity) and operates predominantly through full-and-open competition without set-aside designations, reflecting the proprietary nature of its information products.

Elsevier's concrete capability portfolio centers on ScienceDirect online journal access (peer-reviewed scientific, technical, and medical publications), Scopus and SciVal citation and research analytics platforms, Embase clinical literature databases, Knovel technical reference repositories, Reaxys chemistry compound databases, and specialized clinical training software including ClinicalKey for Nursing, StatDx diagnostic imaging platforms, Shadow Health clinical simulation, and Digital Commons research management systems. Representative prime work includes a $16.8 million definitive contract with the National Library of Medicine through December 31, 2029, for ScienceDirect publications access; a $6.3 million Defense Health Agency award for Clinical Skills and American Society of Peri-Anesthesia Nurses online reference and educational platform through January 2030; a $4.8 million USDA multi-year delivery order for ScienceDirect, Embase, and Scopus renewals; a $1.2 million Air Force Research Laboratory contract for Engineering Village technical database subscriptions through 2026; and a $945,638 National Science Foundation order for the Pure research information management platform with customizations. Elsevier also received a $230,292 NSF project grant (CFDA 47.084) to study place-based innovation ecosystems and R&D commercialization, with planned subawards to SRI International and New York University.

Customer concentration is heavily skewed toward defense and health agencies. The Department of Veterans Affairs Technology Acquisition Center and Defense Health Agency together anchor $87.4 million (28% of combined potential value) across 37 awards. The Office of Naval Research, CDC, and NIH Office of the Director comprise the next tier at $16.5 million. By award count, the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery leads with 31 awards, though individually modest in value, followed by Defense Health Agency with 27 awards averaging $1.6 million each. VA regional networks and NOAA round out the top tier. This concentration reflects Elsevier's dominant position as a clinical training and research database provider to military health systems and federal research institutions.

Elsevier holds two major vehicle positions. The Library of Congress $80 million single-award indefinite delivery contract (effective January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2026) serves as the primary umbrella, generating at least 16 documented task orders across FY2025–FY2026 from agencies including USDA, CFTC, Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Naval Education and Training Command, Department of Energy, DHS, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, NRC, and Library of Congress itself. A secondary $19.3 million National Institutes of Health and HHS agencies single-award IDV (April 1, 2025 through December 31, 2026) provides ScienceDirect, Scopus, Embase, and Reaxys access, with at least two delivery orders active. Both vehicles are firm fixed-price, no-set-aside structures reflecting proprietary product procurement norms. Outside these vehicles, Elsevier also places task orders under FedLink (Indefinite Delivery Contract 03310324D0019, 16 task orders, $4 million combined value) and other subordinate agency BPAs and IDIQs.

Activity has grown modestly but unevenly over the past five years, from 19 awards in 2022 to a peak of 42 in 2024, declining to 28 year-to-date in 2026 (as of late September). Thirty-nine awards (combined potential value $34.2 million) face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, presenting significant recompete opportunity for competitors and recompete-execution risk for Elsevier, particularly the large Defense Health Agency clinical training contracts and USDA database renewals. Category concentration by NAICS and PSC reflects Elsevier's publishing and digital information services posture: 219 awards classified under Periodical Publishers (NAICS 511220), 120 under Internet Publishing and Web Search Portals, and 51 under Book Publishers; top PSCs are Books and Pamphlets (164 awards) and Newspapers and Periodicals (111 awards).

Elsevier operates as a 98% prime contractor base with minimal subcontractor engagement—only 22 sub awards in the portfolio. Across SCI-reportable service contracts (a narrow slice covering contracts above $150,000 threshold), Elsevier shows zero invoiced revenue recorded and zero FTE assignments in the SCI dataset across FY2022–FY2025, indicating that most of Elsevier's federal work is goods/subscriptions or non-service-contract vehicles not captured by SCI reporting requirements. In the rare instances where Elsevier subcontracts, named primes include Ut-Battelle LLC (Oak Ridge National Laboratory management), Triad National Security (Los Alamos National Laboratory), Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies (National Security Campus operations), SRI International (NSF bibliometric and patent data analysis), Fluor Marine Propulsion (Naval Nuclear Laboratory), Guidehouse Inc. (DARPA enterprise support), and New York University (NSF data democratization). These relationships are secondary and ancillary—Elsevier's federal posture is dominantly direct-prime delivery of proprietary platforms and subscriptions, not integration into larger service delivery teams.

Elsevier Inc. is a child of Relx Inc., a global for-profit information and analytics conglomerate. The parent structure does not alter Elsevier's federal posture: awards are placed to Elsevier Inc. explicitly, not to Relx, and Elsevier operates as an independent federal contractor subsidiary with established relationships spanning civilian research (NSF, NIH, USDA, Department of Energy), defense and health (DoD components, Defense Health Agency, VA, military medical training), and civilian agencies (CDC, EPA, USPTO, Library of Congress, Smithsonian). The vendor's 917-award portfolio, $315.6 million combined potential value, and 137 distinct customer agencies establish Elsevier as a critical information infrastructure partner to the federal government, with specific strength in clinical training software and research database access for defense health, research institutions, and federal libraries.