Industrial Economics Inc.

Industrial Economics Inc., doing business as IEC, is a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based environmental and economic consulting firm that competes as a prime contractor (99% of awards) across federal environmental, energy, and regulatory domains without reliance on small business set-asides. Over the past several years, IEC has built a $1.44 billion combined-potential-value portfolio of 2,052 federal awards, primarily through GSA Multiple Award Schedule vehicles and single-award blanket purchase agreements, serving 74 distinct federal agencies with economic analysis, regulatory impact modeling, expert witness services, and natural resource damage assessments.

IEC's customer concentration tilts heavily toward environmental and natural resources agencies, though measured differently by volume versus dollar value. By award count, the Department of Justice's Environment and Natural Resources Division dominates with 417 awards ($31.5 million potential value), followed by the Environmental Protection Agency (254 awards, though only $1.5 million—reflecting high-volume, low-value expert witness calls), the Department of Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service headquarters (179 awards, $24.6 million), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (154 awards, $523.2 million). By potential value, NOAA anchors the portfolio at $523.2 million, followed by the Food and Drug Administration ($128.8 million on 14 awards—indicating large, high-value tobacco policy work), and EPA's Office of Land and Emergency Management ($80.5 million across 39 awards). This divergence reflects IEC's dual operating model: high-frequency purchase-order work with DOJ's litigation support teams alongside long-term, high-ceiling indefinite delivery vehicles with EPA and NOAA.

IEC's capability portfolio centers on economic analysis, regulatory impact assessment, and litigation support across environmental enforcement and natural resource restoration. Concrete example work includes a $39.78 million single-award blanket purchase agreement with EPA's Office of Land and Emergency Management (effective through August 2030) for economic and analytical support to the Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery and Economic and Regulatory Analysis divisions—call orders under this vehicle address rulemakings on coal combustion residuals, permitting updates, alternative technologies, and universal waste, typically valued $75,000 to $2.65 million per call. IEC also holds a $9.6 million multiple-award BPA with NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration (through December 2030) for natural resource damage assessments and technical support; recent calls include $3.94 million for the Diamond Alkali Superfund Site and Lower Passaic River case and $217,948 for Newtown Creek oil response. A $4.5 million indefinite delivery contract with EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (through April 2028) provides economic modeling, financial analysis, expert witness testimony, and training in Superfund enforcement; the most recent delivery order carries a $3.2 million ceiling. Outside the EPA and NOAA core, IEC also holds a $9.8 million FDA BPA for tobacco policy and regulatory analysis (extending through May 2027), a $58 million CPSC data analytics BPA (through May 2031), and a $10 million Bureau of Ocean Energy Management BPA for offshore wind consulting (through July 2025). These vehicles account for the majority of IEC's federal pipeline and reflect its established, non-competitive pricing authority across civilian environmental agencies.

On the GSA side, IEC maintains active pricing on 68 labor categories spanning research analyst ($101–$128/hr for associate-level roles), senior associate ($164–$192/hr for bachelor's-level with 2–4 years experience), principal ($251/hr for master's-level), and subject-matter-expert positions ($434/hr for master's-level with 20+ years experience)—all uncleared roles. SCI-reported federal services revenue has grown modestly: $11.4 million in FY2022 (38.9 FTEs), $14.5 million in FY2023 (48.4 FTEs), and $17 million in FY2024 (46.1 FTEs), with government-paid hourly rates clustering around a median of $148.65/hr, ranging from $119/hr at the 10th percentile to $249/hr at the 90th percentile. SCI data shows IEC self-performs the majority of its work—only 6% average sub-hours share across prime contracts—with 32 named subcontractors drawn primarily from small and disadvantaged businesses, confirming IEC's posture as a prime-focused, self-delivery firm rather than a feeder to larger contractors.

Activity has moderated in the most recent two years (27 awards in 2026 year-to-date, 44 in 2025, compared to 81 in 2023), reflecting typical procurement cycle volatility rather than structural decline. Eighty-one awards with potential value of $41.6 million face ultimate completion in the next twenty-four months, creating moderate recompete exposure concentrated in DOJ litigation-support purchases (many of which are small, serial expert-witness calls expiring February 1, 2029) and renewal windows on NOAA, EPA, and FDA IDVs. IEC's posture as a non-small-business prime contractor competing on technical qualifications and past performance, combined with its dominance on environmental-enforcement and natural-resource-damage-assessment work, positions it as a specialized upstream contractor for federal agencies rather than a sub-feeder or small-business provider—a distinct competitive profile uncommon among federal contractors of comparable revenue scale.