Hummingbird Precision Machine CO.

Hummingbird Precision Machine CO., doing business as Hummingbird Precision Machine Comp, manufactures specialized scientific instrumentation for electron and ion microscopy — transmission electron microscope (TEM) holders, tomography stages, goniometers, and sample preparation systems — and operates primarily as a prime contractor (94% of recent awards) to federal research agencies, with selective subcontract work on defense programs.

Hummingbird Precision is a for-profit Subchapter S corporation headquartered in Lacey, Washington, structured as a small business manufacturer. The company competes predominantly full-and-open across federal research contracts and grants, with no set-aside designation on most awards; three of eight recent contract awards carry small-business set-aside status. The source describes the vendor as a small business manufacturer of scientific instrumentation for electron and ion microscopy, with prior federal contract and grant support from the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, and the National Institutes of Health.

Customer concentration centers on research-focused federal agencies. The Department of Energy Office of Science leads by award count (10 awards) but carries no dollar values in the source; the Department of the Army Materiel Command Research Development and Engineering Command ranks highest by combined potential value (5 awards, $1.2 million). The Department of Commerce National Institute of Standards and Technology (4 awards, $175 thousand combined potential value) and the Department of Health and Human Services National Institute of General Medical Sciences (4 awards) follow. These five customers account for 78% of recent awards. Recent contract work includes a $250 thousand purchase order from Army RDECOM (March 2026) for a transmission electron microscope sample holder enabling real-time observation of non-thermal plasma electrochemistry with a completion date of March 31, 2027; a $30,075 full-and-open purchase order from Army RDECOM (June 2024) for a TEM tomography holder compatible with LEAP 5000XR and JEOL 2100F equipment; and a $115.5 thousand small-business set-aside purchase order from NIST (September 2021) for a transmission electron microscope.

Hummingbird Precision holds a single parent vehicle: indefinite delivery contract FA865022D5814 with two task orders. The vendor serves as a federal grant recipient (not a sub-recipient) on three active research and development cooperative agreements and project grants from NIST and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. Recent grant work includes a cooperative agreement awarded October 1, 2024 (completing September 30, 2027) with NIST to develop a high-voltage in-situ TEM specimen holder enabling electrical biasing experiments up to 1000V for real-time imaging of nano-scale electronic device components; a project grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (August 1, 2022 to April 30, 2025) to develop an instant freezing sample preparation system for cryo-electron microscopy; and a project grant from the same institute (September 20, 2021 to June 18, 2024) to design a piezo-driven replacement goniometer for cryoelectron microscopy optimized for precision and stability at cryogenic temperatures. Hummingbird Precision does not subaward grant funds.

The vendor subcontracts to Bluehalo, LLC on defense technical operations work, delivering NanoManipulator TEM holders for TFS/FEI equipment and peripherals (subcontract awards August 31, 2023 and August 31, 2024). Activity trajectory shows irregular volume — five awards in 2021, declining to one in 2022, recovering to two and three in 2023 and 2024 — with three awards (combined potential value $250 thousand) completing in the next twenty-four months. The combined dollars obligated across all awards ($23.3 million) significantly exceeds the combined potential value reported ($1.7 million), indicating older contract completions or obligated amounts not fully reflected in current ceiling values.