Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum, P.C.

Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum, P.C., doing business as HOK, a subsidiary of global architecture and engineering firm HOK Group, Inc., delivers architectural design, engineering, construction quality management, and technical review services to federal civilian agencies and the U.S. military as a prime contractor competing on full-and-open contracts with no set-aside posture. The firm maintains a Washington, DC headquarters and operates across 21 distinct federal customer agencies, with no federal subcontract activity.

HOK's customer concentration is heavily skewed to the National Institutes of Health. The NIH Construction organization drives 88 awards (45% of the total footprint) worth $950.2 million combined potential value — roughly half the vendor's $1.9 billion total portfolio. The second-ranked customer, the Department of the Army Corps of Engineers Engineering District Middle East, represents only 3 awards but $701 million in potential value, anchored by a $700 million Saudi Arabia Ministry of Defense Transformation Initiative architect-engineer IDIQ with a minimum guarantee. The Department of State Bureau of Overseas Building Operations, the Department of the Treasury Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the National Park Service round out the top five. The divergence between award-count and potential-value rankings reflects HOK's concentration in high-value, multi-year NIH design and technical review work alongside discrete large-dollar foreign military sales and federal building modernization programs.

HOK's award activity has remained flat to modest — 7 awards in 2022 and 2023, declining to 3 in 2025 and 4 in 2026 (first half). Twelve awards (combined potential value $74.5 million) reach ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, representing recompete exposure. The firm's primary platform is the NIH Architect Engineering Multiple Award Task Order Contract (MATOC), a $400 million indefinite-delivery vehicle from which HOK holds 31 task orders worth $48 million combined potential value. A recently renewed FY26 A/E MATOC, awarded June 24, 2026, carries a $400 million ceiling and runs through June 2032. Representative NIH work includes a $16.6 million Surgery, Radiology, and Laboratory Medicine Phase 2 construction quality management delivery order (award September 2024, completion January 2027), a $1.62 million technical review and support order for FY25 NIH grant biomedical construction projects (September 2025, through September 2030), and a $2.544 million electrical switching station and emergency generators replacement delivery order at Building 59/59A (April 2023, through December 2026). HOK also holds a $700 million IDIQ with the Army Corps of Engineers for Saudi Arabia Ministry of Defense architect-engineer services under Foreign Military Sales Case SR-B-HEV. Additional vehicles include an IDIQ from the Bureau of Overseas Building Operations (partial small business set-aside, $100,000 ceiling, August 2025) and a $57.6 million indefinite-delivery contract (57 task orders) supporting HHS design services.

HOK's capability portfolio centers on architectural design, engineering design, construction quality management, technical review of biomedical and research facility projects, and construction administration. NAICS-level work splits across Architectural Services (85 awards), Engineering Services (41 awards), and Landscape Architectural Services (16 awards). The firm's federal work is characterized by long-duration, fixed-price institutional and research facility modernization, renovation, and technical oversight — NIH campus infrastructure improvements, federal courthouse and building envelope rehabilitation, and complex HVAC, electrical, and life-safety system replacements.

Service Contract Inventory data shows modest federal services engagement. SCI-reportable invoicing totaled $9.3 million across FY2022–FY2024, with $4.9 million in FY2022 (16.4 FTEs) and $4.4 million in FY2024 (14.0 FTEs) — a flat trajectory at roughly 4–5 FTEs per year. Median government-paid rates on SCI-reported contracts run approximately $147.31 per hour, with rates distributed between $139.44 (10th percentile) and $159.53 (90th percentile). Across SCI-reportable prime contracts, subcontractors account for an average of 31 percent of total contractor hours, supported by a named subcontractor base of 88 firms. This sub-engagement pattern indicates HOK typically delivers the prime design and technical leadership while subcontracting specialized engineering disciplines, site inspections, and construction administration labor.