Graw Radiosondes GMBH & CO. KG

Graw Radiosondes GMBH & CO. KG, a foreign-owned, for-profit manufacturer of meteorological instrumentation headquartered in Nuremberg, Germany, supplies radiosondes and upper-air sounding systems to the federal government as a prime contractor on a sole-source basis, competing full-and-open with no SBA certifications. The company holds a single-award indefinite-delivery contract with NOAA valued at $29.5 million through September 2031 and has established itself as the exclusive supplier of DFM-17 403 megahertz radiosondes to the National Weather Service, a role secured through OMB-approved non-availability waivers reflecting the specialized commercial unavailability of this equipment.

Graw Radiosondes' federal footprint is almost entirely concentrated in NOAA's weather observation mission. The Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration accounts for 43 of 48 prime awards (100% of combined potential value at $60.3 million) across a nineteen-year relationship dating to 2007. The remaining four awards—two to the Department of Commerce, two to NASA Goddard Space Center, and one to NASA's Shared Services Center and the Forest Service—total roughly $68 thousand and are incidental relative-to the NOAA concentration. Activity has remained steady, with five to seven awards per year since 2022, though recent months show elevated velocity: between March and September 2026, NOAA issued seven delivery orders totaling approximately $4.4 million for DFM-17 radiosondes and GRAW software support for the National Weather Service's Lower Stratosphere Classification system and Manual Radiosonde Observing System.

The company operates under two parent NOAA vehicles. The primary contract—an indefinite-delivery contract awarded October 15, 2021, with a $29.5 million ceiling through September 2031—has generated 20 task orders carrying $14.6 million in combined potential value. A second indefinite-delivery contract vehicle has issued 7 task orders worth $4 million. Representative recent awards include a $1.686 million delivery order (July 2026) for DFM-17 radiosondes supporting the Radio Frequency Migration Project, a $950,400 order (July 2026) for upper-air sounding equipment, a $121,500 purchase order (September 2026) for GRAW software support for the NLS/NLSC system, and a $475,200 delivery order (September 2026) for DFM-17 radiosondes under a non-availability waiver. Place of performance for most orders is Germany, with some sub-deliveries to U.S. locations including Silver Spring, Maryland; Grandview, Missouri; and other NWS field stations. Only one sub-award appears in the source: Graw Radiosondes serves as a subcontractor to KBR Wyle Services on a NASA Wallops Flight Facility range operations and maintenance support contract (February 2025), providing instrumentation systems support at Wallops and mobile instrumentation deployed worldwide. Combined obligated dollars across all awards total $24.5 million, representing 40% of the $60.4 million combined potential value. Three awards (combined potential value $3.1 million) reach ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, creating modest recompete exposure. NOAA's reliance on non-availability waivers and Made in America waivers for Graw orders through August 2024 and beyond reflects the company's strategic moat as the sole commercial source of DFM-17 403 megahertz radiosondes meeting the National Weather Service's technical requirements, effectively insulating it from competition on this primary contract vehicle.