Intelligent Payload Solutions, Inc.

Intelligent Payload Solutions, Inc., doing business as Paper Boat Systems, is a small-business technology engineering firm based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, that delivers cybersecurity, credential protection, and advanced defense research and development services to federal agencies primarily as a prime contractor under Small Business set-asides and as a subcontractor to larger defense primes. The vendor competes across full-and-open and set-aside work, with a recent portfolio split 43% prime awards and 57% sub awards.

The company's concrete capability portfolio centers on secure access technologies, credential protection, hardware-in-the-loop simulation and system engineering, biothreat detection, and autonomous vehicle research. Representative prime work includes a $1.25 million SBIR Phase II contract awarded by the Air Force Research Laboratory in March 2024 for the TOTEM project (extending secure access for Department of Defense, non-DoD, and contractor verification with offline validation), a predecessor $74.8 thousand SBIR Phase I award for TOTEMBOSS (credential protection for Air Force assets), and a $998.8 thousand SBIR Phase II award from the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate in April 2022 for research and development services in disease detection, cybersecurity, autonomous vehicles, and biothreat detection. The vendor also holds a position on the Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD) multiple-award IDIQ issued by the Missile Defense Agency on December 29, 2025, a 10-year defense contract with no set-asides spanning research and development, prototyping, systems engineering, weapon design, production, and test and evaluation for homeland missile defense systems; the vendor received an initial delivery order under SHIELD (ceiling $500) on the same date.

Customer concentration reflects a small-business R&D footprint. Across the top five agencies accounting for 95% of recent awards by count, the Department of the Army Acquisition Support Center PEO Missiles and Space dominates with 12 awards (all sub-awards to Torch Technologies for distributed digital simulation and hardware-in-the-loop engineering services), while the Air Force Research Laboratory and DHS S&T Directorate each anchor $1.3 million and $1.1 million in combined potential value respectively from SBIR work. The vendor subcontracts primarily to Torch Technologies on Army training-simulation and test-and-evaluation work under the GSA OneAcquisition Solution for Integrated Services — Small Business vehicle (12 sub-task orders). On SCI-reportable federal service contracts, the vendor reported $999 thousand in invoiced revenue across FY2022–FY2024 (FY2023 peak at $586 thousand across 1.7 FTEs), with government-paid median hourly rates around $168/hr on prime contracts and no material subcontractor engagement. Recent activity has accelerated markedly — one award in 2021 and 2022, two in 2023, jumping to twelve in 2024 — driven by recurring Torch sub-work and SBIR awards; the vendor's SBIR Phase II work with DHS and Air Force closed in early 2024 and February 2025 respectively, creating recompete exposure in the near term, though the SHIELD IDIQ opening positions the vendor for future defense integration task orders.

Intelligent Payload Solutions, Inc. (IPS) is a technology development & systems engineering company focusing on four areas: Certified System Design and Installation, Program Management, Technology Development, and Production Processes.