Gatan Inc.

Gatan Inc., a subsidiary of Ametek Inc. and a manufacturer of specialized instrumentation and software for electron microscopes, operates as a prime contractor (97% of recent awards) delivering maintenance, repair, and equipment sales to federal research institutions—primarily NIH institutes and other civilian science agencies—across 37 distinct customer agencies, with no set-aside designation across its footprint.

Gatan competes in full-and-open federal procurements, anchored by purchase orders under primary NAICS codes 334516 (Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing) and 811219 (Other Electronic and Precision Equipment Repair and Maintenance). The vendor's federal work portfolio spans 211 awards over the past several years, with recent activity concentrated in maintenance and equipment supply: a $751.2 million maintenance renewal for Gatan K3 cameras at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) through March 2028, a $595.981 million BioQuantum preventative-maintenance plan awarded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) through February 2028, and a $504.759 million maintenance-services contract from the National Cancer Institute for K3 and K2 digital cameras through May 2027. Equipment procurements include a $399.99 million Alpine Vista Direct Detection Camera purchase by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and a $481.114 million EDAX CLARITY SUPER EBSD system awarded by the Office of Naval Research, alongside smaller deployments of digital imaging cameras, energy-filter systems, sample holders, and ion-polishing equipment to DoD and DOE research facilities.

Customer concentration clusters within the NIH enterprise. The top five NIH institutes account for 62% of combined potential value: the National Cancer Institute (15 awards, $3 million), NIAID (12 awards, $2.9 million), the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (19 awards, $1.9 million), NIDDK (9 awards, $1.9 million), and NIEHS (20 awards, $1.8 million). NIEHS leads by volume (20 awards), while NCI leads by dollars, reflecting the mix of equipment sales and maintenance contracts. The Office of Naval Research, Department of Defense Research Development and Engineering Command, and Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory round out secondary federal customers. Place of performance spans Pleasanton, California (Gatan's Pleasanton headquarters and maintenance hub), Research Triangle Park, North Carolina (NIEHS operations), Bethesda, Maryland (NIH facilities), Washington, DC (Navy operations), and Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland (Army research).

Gatan places task orders under five distinct parent vehicles, each carrying one task order: a Blanket Purchase Agreement issued by NIDDK (RA1341022B2655), Indefinite Delivery Contracts for Navy (80JSC022DA035) and NASA (75N92020D00022), a DoD IDC (272017892), and a NIH blanket agreement (267012461). The awards demonstrate Gatan's posture as a sole-source supplier of OEM maintenance and specialized equipment—purchase orders consistently cite Gatan's unique technical capabilities as original equipment manufacturer justification under 41 U.S.C. 1901 and FAR 13.106-1(b), with no competitive set-aside activity recorded.

Activity has modulated year over year—eight awards in 2022, fifteen in 2023, thirteen in 2024, declining to eight in 2025, and three in the first five months of 2026. Ten awards (combined potential value $2.8 million) face ultimate completion in the next twenty-four months, creating recompete exposure concentrated in NIEHS and NIDDK maintenance renewals. Gatan also operates as a subcontractor on a smaller scale: a May 2026 sub-award with Illumina Inc. for K3 camera maintenance at the National Cancer Institute, a September 2025 PIPS II ion-mill replacement sub with Fluor Marine Propulsion for Naval Nuclear Laboratory operations, and three related sub-awards under Fluor Marine Propulsion and JSC engineering task orders for EDAX and MonArc Pro service contracts between 2024 and 2026.

Gatan Inc. is a child entity of Ametek Inc., which maintains a broader federal footprint as a manufacturer of electronic instruments and electromechanical devices; the source identifies Edax, LLC as a named subsidiary under Ametek's corporate structure, representing the EDAX brand of energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDS) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) systems that Gatan markets and integrates into bundled microscopy solutions for federal agencies.