J.L Shepherd And Associates, Inc.

J.L Shepherd And Associates, Inc., a woman-owned small business headquartered in San Fernando, California, manufactures and services high-dose irradiation equipment and related radiation technology systems for federal agencies as a prime contractor (99% of recent awards). The company specializes in the design, manufacture, maintenance, repair, and source reload of Cobalt-60 and Cesium-137 irradiators and associated equipment, with a federal contracting footprint spanning from 1982 to the present.

The company's customer base is highly concentrated within the Department of Defense and federal research establishments. Defense accounts for a substantial share of recent activity: the Department of the Army holds 38 awards, the Department of the Navy holds 25 awards, and the Department of the Air Force holds 24 awards across the top customers by award count. By potential value, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases leads with 6 awards valued at $3.3 million combined, followed by the Navy's Naval Sea Systems Command (25 awards, $3 million), and the Air Force Materiel Command (7 awards, $1.8 million). The top five customer agencies by potential value represent 33% of combined potential value across the 351-award portfolio. Across 61 distinct customer agencies, the company performs work as prime contractor on purchase orders and definitive contracts, with no reliance on government-wide IDIQs or GWACs; the top parent vehicles carry minimal activity (an indefinite delivery contract with 4 task orders and $476 thousand combined potential value).

Recent representative work includes a $7.083 million purchase order from the Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (awarded June 3, 2026, completion June 1, 2030) for provision and installation of two fully operational Model 484C-P, Sub-Model 484R-2D Cobalt-60 irradiators at Moore Air Base in Edinburg, Texas, to support New World Screwworm pupae sterilization at performance targets of 100 million pupae per week by November 2027 and 300 million pupae per week by December 2028; a $1.414 million purchase order from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (awarded September 19, 2023) for source exchange services on two Model 484R-2 high-dose irradiators; a $1.013 million definitive contract from the Air Force Materiel Command (awarded November 10, 2021) for Cesium-137 reload with calibration certificate for the Air Force Primary Standards Laboratory in Heath, Ohio; and a $1.651 million purchase order from Naval Sea Systems Command (awarded August 31, 2021) for transfer of twelve AN/UDM-1B irradiators from various Navy sites.

Set-aside designations appear on approximately half of the company's federal contract portfolio. Recent awards split between total small business set-asides (such as the Air Force source reload and NIAD source exchange work) and full-and-open procurements where the company is cited as sole source due to proprietary data rights, design information access, or status as original equipment manufacturer. The awards cited above under USDA and Air Force Materiel Command used total small business set-asides; awards from Navy Strategic Systems Programs and Washington Headquarters Service carried no set-aside.

Activity has contracted in recent years, declining from 10 awards in 2021 to 2 awards in 2025 and 3 awards in 2026. Combined potential value across all 351 awards is $32.7 million, though combined dollars obligated are $44.5 million (136% of combined potential value), indicating that prior-year obligations have exceeded ceiling values. Three awards with combined potential value of $2.7 million reach ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months. The company operates primarily through direct prime relationships and retains minimal subcontractor engagement; five sub-awards through Triad National Security, LLC at Los Alamos National Laboratory (relating to device removal and industrial cleaning services) represent 1% of the recent award count. Service Contract Inventory data captured only one record (FY2022, $682 thousand invoiced), reflecting that the company's federal footprint is dominated by equipment manufacturing, repair, and reload services rather than labor-hour service contracts above the $150,000 SCI threshold.