HRL Laboratories, LLC

HRL Laboratories, LLC, a research and development laboratory jointly owned by The Boeing Company and General Motors, operates as a prime contractor delivering advanced-technology research, development, and prototype engineering across quantum computing, infrared sensing, additive manufacturing, and specialized electronics to defense and civilian federal agencies, with no SBA set-aside posture.

HRL Laboratories competes exclusively in full-and-open procurements and holds no set-aside certifications. The company is headquartered in Malibu, California, and operates as a for-profit limited liability company classified under primary NAICS 541712 (Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences, except Biotechnology). HRL's federal footprint reflects a large-business contractor profile sustained by cost-plus-fixed-fee definitive contracts and Other Transaction Agreements with defense research agencies.

HRL's customer concentration runs heavily toward defense research and development. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency dominates both volume and dollars, accounting for 94 of HRL's 295 total awards (32% by count) and $474.7 million in combined potential value (57% of the $827.3 million total), anchoring HRL's portfolio in applied research and exploratory development across quantum computing, advanced manufacturing, sensors, and RF electronics. The Department of the Air Force Materiel Command Research Laboratory (37 awards, $180.9 million) and the Department of the Navy Office of Naval Research (36 awards, $76.1 million) rank second and third and together account for about 25% of combined potential value. The Department of the Army Materiel Command Research Development and Engineering Command (12 awards, $23 million) and other Navy commands round out the active set. These five customer agencies account for 76% of recent awards by count and 94% by combined potential value, with no concentration in civilian agencies.

Representative prime-contractor work spans quantum information science, infrared and RF sensing, and advanced manufacturing. On quantum computing, HRL holds a $3.12 million Army Research Office extension of the Qubits for Computing Foundry program through September 2027, optimizing the foundry's framework for quantum computing research and development. For infrared sensing, a $3.1 million Office of Naval Research definitive contract awarded September 2024 funds development of a high-density-format mid-wave infrared spatial light modulator with phase-change technology for electrically-programmable two-dimensional beam steering, extending through December 2026. On advanced manufacturing, a $8.88 million DARPA definitive contract for the STRUCTURES UNIQUELY RESOLVED TO GUARANTEE ENDURANCE (SURGE) Phase 1 program, awarded February 2025 and extending to April 2029, supports research into predicting the useful life of critical structural components manufactured through additive manufacturing, merging in-situ sensing, process modeling, and microstructure-based fatigue life methods. Additional recent awards include a $26.99 million Air Force Research Laboratory contract for the STAR-FISH advanced research announcement covering space hardware and software development, a $25.95 million DARPA MACARONI program contract for electrically small receivers and transmitters, and a $15.2 million DARPA MINITHERMS3D contract for miniature thermal management systems supporting 3D heterogeneous microelectronics integration. HRL also received a $13.75 million National Institutes of Health Other Transaction Agreement for the MINDSET (Modeling Intelligent Detection Systems Using Expert Thinking) platform and a $2.23 million DARPA Other Transaction Agreement for the Anticipatory and Adaptive Anti-Money Laundering (A3ML) program, both awarded in early 2026.

HRL's activity has remained moderate and flat across the past five years, averaging 7.4 awards per year from 2022 through 2026 (6 in 2022, 11 in 2023, 10 in 2024, 9 in 2025, and 1 recorded through January 2026). Seventeen awards with potential value of $130.9 million reach ultimate completion inside the next twenty-four months and face recompete cliff exposure. The company holds four active DARPA Other Transaction IDVs with ceilings including $1.99 million for CAVEBAT (Cavity Based Absolute Velocimetry Using Earth's B-field Via Attonewton Force Transduction), $995 thousand for WISEST (Wireless Sensing of Strain and Temperature), $874 thousand for PROPHET (Proximitized Patterned Heterostructures), and $999 thousand for electronically tunable infrared transparent optical materials.

HRL operates almost exclusively as a prime contractor. Of 295 total awards in the source dataset, 286 (97%) are prime awards; only 9 (3%) are sub-awards. Recent sub-award activity shows HRL subcontracting to Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation on three awards in late 2025 for testing and experimentation of the PROVIDENCE system to enhance beyond-line-of-sight capability, to Booz Allen Hamilton on a February 2025 five-year task order for engineering, administrative, procurement, technical writing, laboratory equipment management, and training support under the NERF-D research and development program, and to Riverside Research Institute on an January 2025 award for research and development supporting the OP TEMPO (Objective Prediction of Team Effectiveness via Models of Performance Outcomes) Phase 1 base. On its own prime contracts, HRL names academic and specialized-supplier subcontractors: the University of Wisconsin System and the University of Technology Sydney on the Quantum Benchmarking Program, Virginia Tech and the University of Colorado on the H6 atomic clock development program, and Micross Advanced Interconnect Technology LLC, the University of Maryland College Park, Stanford University, and Purdue University on the MINITHERMS3D thermal management contract. Service Contract Inventory reporting shows minimal federal service-contract activity — four records across FY2022–FY2024 with zero invoiced revenue above the $150,000 reporting threshold and negligible FTE scale (less than one FTE in FY2022, zero in FY2023 and FY2024) — indicating HRL's portfolio is dominated by research and development, materials, and prototype hardware deliverables falling outside SCI scope rather than personnel-intensive services.