Herox, PBC

Herox, PBC, a for-profit crowdsourcing and open innovation platform company headquartered in Littleton, Colorado with operations in Dover and Stanton, Delaware, operates as a prime contractor delivering crowdsourcing services, innovation challenges, and prize competitions to federal agencies under two NASA government-wide acquisition contracts (GWACs). The vendor competes exclusively full-and-open; no set-aside designations appear across its recent award footprint.

Herox's federal work centers on designing and executing research competitions, data challenges, prize competitions, and crowd-based problem-solving initiatives that engage external innovators to address federal mission requirements. Representative work includes a $1.27 million delivery order from NASA's Johnson Space Center (issued June 29, 2026, under the NASA Open Innovation Services 3 GWAC) for the National Institutes of Health Connecting the Community for Maternal Health Challenge for Research Capacity; a $549.9 thousand delivery order from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (issued November 19, 2025, under NOIS3) for the Detecting Subsurface Cracks in Embankments Competition; a $1.49 million order from NASA Johnson Space Center (issued August 13, 2025, under NOIS3) for the Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP) Partnership Annual Notification challenge; and a $643.9 thousand delivery order (issued September 11, 2025, under NOIS3) for the NIH Complement-ARIE New Approach Methodologies Reduction-to-Practice Challenge. Earlier work under the NASA Open Innovation Services 2 (NOIS2) IDIQ included external crowdsourcing services spanning human space exploration, aeronautics research, and scientific initiatives, with individual task order values ranging from approximately $80 thousand to $1 million.

Customer concentration is heavily skewed toward NASA's Johnson Space Center, which accounts for 43 of 44 awards (100% of combined potential value of $693.4 million) in the recent footprint. A single award from the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration appears in the portfolio but carries no disclosed dollar value. Nearly all awards (37 of 44) fall under NAICS 541712 (All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services).

Herox holds prime positions on two NASA GWACs: the NASA Open Innovation Services 3 (NOIS3), a $474.988 billion multiple-award vehicle awarded June 5, 2025, with an ultimate completion date of May 31, 2027, from which Herox has drawn 12 task orders ($7.2 million combined potential value); and the NASA Open Innovation Services 2 (NOIS2), a $175 million IDIQ awarded in June 2020, from which Herox has executed 28 task orders ($16.2 million combined potential value). Both vehicles authorize Herox to deliver crowdsourcing and open innovation services to multiple federal agencies, though the source data shows task orders issued primarily through NASA Johnson Space Center.

Activity has grown modestly year over year, from 4 awards in 2024 to 10 in 2025 and 5 in 2026 (year-to-date through September). Four awards (combined potential value $3 million) reach ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months. Herox operates exclusively as a prime — the source carries no subcontract work. Combined dollars obligated across all awards total $26 million, representing 4 percent of the $693.4 million combined potential value, indicating most awards remain partially unfunded or in early execution phases.

We use prize incentive competitions to help companies and organizations crowdsource innovative ideas to solve complex problems, and support them in running their own open innovation programs to meet their internal innovation targets. Our services are executed entirely through our own internet platform which can be customized according to our clients' needs. Services can include competition design, sourcing crowds of competitors, project management, engagement, judging support and facilitating prize payouts. We use a combination of social media and direct outreach techniques to build a crowd that has the maximum potential to provide ideas and solutions to the competition