James Ippolito & CO. Of Connecticut, Inc.

James Ippolito & CO. Of Connecticut, Inc., doing business as Ippolito James & Co Of CT Inc., is a minority-owned, service-disabled veteran-owned small business manufacturer of aerospace hardware and aircraft structural components that operates as a prime contractor (99% of recent awards) supplying the Defense Logistics Agency and Department of Defense with specialized aircraft parts and fasteners. Headquartered in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the company is self-certified as a small disadvantaged business and Hispanic American-owned, competing predominantly full-and-open rather than under set-aside vehicles, though several of its Indefinite Delivery Contracts carry Total Small Business or Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business set-aside designations.

James Ippolito supplies concrete aircraft hardware across a dense portfolio: bushings, sleeves, structural brackets, rotor blade shields, pressure switch fittings, machine thread plugs, nut assemblies, door struts, hydraulic supports, aircraft frames, hinge pins, actuators, and related aerospace fasteners and assemblies. Representative prime work includes a $107,120 purchase order from DLA Land and Maritime for 26 units of track sliding doors (awarded January 2024), a $44,495 purchase order from DLA Aviation for rotary wing helicopter pins (March 2024), and a $41,650 purchase order from DLA Aviation for structural support components under a Total Small Business set-aside (December 2023). The company recently secured three new single-award Indefinite Delivery Contracts: a $2.5 million Total Small Business contract for nut assemblies through October 2030, a $350,000 single-award contract through November 2030, and a $249,999.99 contract for pressure switch fittings through September 2029. These vehicles supplement two existing IDCs—a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business contract for rotor blade shields (ceiling $249,999.99, through July 2028) and a Total Small Business contract for pressure switch fittings (ceiling $249,999.99, through September 2029).

Customer concentration is extreme: DLA Aviation alone accounts for 497 of 641 prime awards (78% of award count) and $8 million of the $12.3 million combined potential value portfolio. The second-tier customers—DLA Troop Support Hardware (26 awards, $2.5 million), Army TACOM Life Cycle Management Command (34 awards, $604 thousand), and DLA Land and Maritime (59 awards, $600 thousand)—together represent only 22% of award count and 18% of dollars. The top five customer agencies account for 94% of award volume.

Activity has grown steadily—from 38 awards in 2022 to 87 in 2024—then declined to 65 in 2025 and only 13 in 2026 year-to-date, reflecting the company's dependence on high-frequency, small-dollar task orders under its IDV vehicles. Individual contract values range from $95 to $107,120, with most falling in the $2,100 to $6,320 range. Only four awards face ultimate completion in the next twenty-four months, with combined potential value of $21,000—minimal recompete exposure. The company's award footprint is almost entirely through DLA Aviation's Indefinite Delivery Contract vehicles, where it holds a standing vendor posture rather than competing for each task order.

As a subcontractor, James Ippolito serves Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation on defense aircraft programs—MH-60R helicopter configuration work and rotor wing assembly components—but subcontracting represents less than 1% of total award activity and carries no dollar magnitude in the source. The company's business model centers on reliable supply of specialized aerospace hardware to DLA through established IDV vehicles rather than pursuit of prime defense contracts or broad-based system integration work. NAICS concentration is narrow: Other Aircraft Parts and Auxiliary Equipment Manufacturing (294 awards) dominates, with secondary exposure to hardware and bearing manufacturing. PSC concentration mirrors this—Airframe Structural Components (243 awards) and Bushings, Rings, and Spacers (69 awards) account for the vast majority of procurement activity.

Production machining, CNC Machining, AIRCRAFT BEARINGS, ROD ENDS, BEARING RINGS, BALLS, LOADER SLOT RINGS, AIRCRAFT STRUCTURAL PARTS, AIRCRAFT HYDRAULIC COMPONENTS, AIRCRAFT CONTROLS