IHS Global Inc.

IHS Global Inc., doing business as I.H.S. Corp, is a for-profit subsidiary of S&P Global headquartered in Englewood, Colorado, that delivers proprietary data subscriptions, market intelligence platforms, and specialized software solutions to federal agencies across defense and civilian sectors as a prime contractor in full-and-open procurements without set-aside reliance. The vendor operates across a broad portfolio spanning energy, maritime, trade analytics, geospatial, economic forecasting, and technical standards domains, competing exclusively in unrestricted federal competitions.

The vendor's federal footprint centers on subscription-based access to proprietary databases and software platforms rather than labor services. Representative prime work includes a $14.5 million definitive contract with the U.S. Geological Survey for oil and gas well database and software services (Bureau of Land Management, September 2022), a $3 million purchase order with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for waterborne trade and deep-draft vessel tracking data (August 2025), a $1.6 million drilling data subscription with the Department of the Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs for energy and mineral development (June 2025), a $1.25 million definitive contract with the Army Corps of Engineers for monthly U.S. foreign waterborne transportation data (September 2023), a $1.12 million Janes FEDLINK subscription with the Department of State Bureau of Political Military Affairs (September 2023), and a $1.03 million delivery order with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for Medicare Market Basket & Price Index Studies under the GSA Multiple Award Schedule (April 2026). The vendor maintains particular depth in maritime intelligence (MIRS, PIERS, SeaWeb subscriptions), economic forecasting platforms (macroeconomic models, US Economic Service), and geospatial interpretation software (Kingdom Suite, Petra, 2D/3DPAK).

Customer concentration is diffuse but clustered within defense acquisition commands and civilian civilian agencies requiring specialized intelligence and analytics. The top five customer agencies by award count represent 34% of recent awards, led by the Department of the Navy (437 awards), the Department of the Army (359 awards), Naval Sea Systems Command (298 awards), the Department of the Air Force (191 awards), and Naval Supply Systems Command (123 awards). By potential value, the top five represent 18% of combined value: Naval Sea Systems Command ($71 million across 298 awards), Army Materiel Command Redstone Arsenal ($60.7 million across 28 awards), the U.S. Geological Survey ($59.9 million across 57 awards), Bureau of Land Management ($23.7 million across 28 awards), and Naval Air Warfare Center ($18 million across 92 awards). The award volume skews heavily toward the Department of the Navy and Army, while the dollar concentration tilts toward larger contracts with NAVSEA, USGS, and BLM reflecting multi-year software and data subscriptions.

IHS Global holds several significant indefinite delivery vehicles that anchor its federal posture. The Library of Congress FEDLINK electronic resources contract carries a $24 million ceiling with at least 12 task orders placed by civilian agencies including the International Trade Administration, Bureau of Industry and Security, and Department of Energy totaling approximately $3.6 million. A Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency multiple-award Other Transaction IDV valued at $26.5 million (awarded March 2024) supports flexible ordering of data, analytics, and software solutions across national security priorities. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management GSIS-C (Geoscience Subsurface Interpretation Software—Cloud) single-award IDIQ carries a $2.5 million ceiling for geoscience and geophysical software services (August 2024), with two task orders issued totaling approximately $1 million. The vendor also holds a single-award Department of Energy Chief Information Officer blanket purchase agreement valued at $3.8 million through March 2028 for CERAWEEK conference logistics and access. The vendor's GSA Multiple Award Schedule (GS02F0402D) has generated 1,167 task orders totaling $43.5 million, making it the vendor's highest-volume contract vehicle. A second GSA schedule (GS35F0098D) has issued 90 task orders; GS02F4029A has issued 70 task orders. These schedule vehicles distribute work across dozens of civilian and defense agencies, including DHS, DOE, DoD, HHS, NOAA, State, and Treasury, with typical delivery orders ranging from $20,000 to $1.8 million for annual subscriptions.

Recent activity shows year-over-year decline. Awards totaled 79 in 2022, declined to 59 in 2023, 42 in 2024, and 27 in both 2025 and 2026 (through September). Over the next twenty-four months, 46 awards with combined potential value of $30.8 million face ultimate completion, creating significant recompete exposure. The largest recompete-risk contracts include the $14.5 million USGS oil and gas database (expiring May 2030), the $3 million USACE waterborne trade data (expiring August 2030), the $1.6 million BIA drilling data subscription (expiring June 2030), and multiple $500,000-plus maritime and economic database subscriptions across Navy, Commerce, and Transportation commands.

On Service Contract Inventory, SCI-reportable invoiced revenue totaled $10.1 million across four fiscal years (FY2022–FY2025), driven primarily by FY2023 ($6.9 million across 9.2 FTEs). FY2024 invoicing was $1.7 million across 3.6 FTEs, and FY2025 shows no SCI activity in the source. Across SCI-reportable prime contracts, the vendor's government-paid hourly rates ranged from $20.42 at the 10th percentile to a median of $196.40/hr and $254.73 at the 90th percentile, reflecting a mix of low-skilled data licensing and higher-value analytics labor. Subcontractor hours averaged 2% of total contractor hours on prime contracts, with only two named subcontractors reported (Guidehouse Inc. on a DARPA enterprise support services task, and HX5 LLC on a Lincoln Laboratory software subscription order), signaling that the vendor primarily delivers its own software and data platforms rather than building teams around subcontractor expertise. SCI figures capture only a small slice of IHS Global's federal footprint; the vast majority of the vendor's $1.31 billion in combined potential value across 4,178 prime awards consists of subscription licenses, software maintenance, data access, and other non-labor deliverables excluded from the Service Contract Inventory.

The vendor competes exclusively in full-and-open procurements and maintains no SBA certifications or set-aside posture. It operates three named subsidiaries: Premier Data Services Inc., IHS Global LIMITED, and R.L. Polk & Co. Corporate structure and subsidiary relationships appear designed to manage legacy brand portfolios (particularly Polk and associated databases) rather than represent distinct business units. The vendor has held federal registration since 2002 and maintains operational centers in Englewood, Colorado (headquarters and back-office); Greenwood Village, Colorado (primary federal delivery site); Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Windsor Mill and Milford Mill, Maryland, with performance at multiple locations worldwide aligned to customer geography. IHS Global's narrowly focused business model—proprietary subscription data, market intelligence platforms, and software tools sold directly to civilian and defense agencies without labor augmentation—differentiates it from systems integrators and IT service providers; competitive positioning relies on exclusive access to specialized databases and analytics capabilities rather than scale or broad managed-services capacity.