Lumibird Inc.

Lumibird Inc., a foreign-owned for-profit organization headquartered in Bozeman, Montana, manufactures and supplies specialized laser systems, lidar equipment, and fiber-optic devices to federal agencies as a prime contractor. The vendor competes exclusively in full-and-open (non-set-aside) procurement with one exception: a single Total Small Business award from the National Institute of Standards and Technology for a wind lidar system in 2023. The company operates primarily as a direct prime supplier (93% of awards) rather than as a subcontractor; recent sub work routes through larger defense integrators including Lockheed Martin Corporation, Federal Express Corporation, The Aerospace Corporation, and Valkyrie Enterprises for specialized components and engineering support.

Lumibird's capability portfolio centers on pulsed and fiber laser systems, coherent heterodyne lidars, and optical diagnostic equipment for scientific research and defense applications. Representative recent work includes a $652,900 order from NOAA for two scanning Doppler lidars with 1.5-micrometer wavelength capability for atmospheric research, a $519,040 NASA Langley delivery of two scanning Doppler wind lidars with eye-safe infrared wavelengths and sub-meter resolution, a $346,650 NIST contract for a wind lidar system, and multiple smaller orders from the Office of Naval Research for fiber laser systems (ranging from $31,000 to $135,000 per order). The vendor also delivers specialized repair and maintenance services—recent examples include a $30,518 Naval Sea Systems Command contract for Quantel laser repair, a $43,221 NOAA order for a pulsed erbium fiber laser, and a $15,000 Bureau of Naval Personnel repair job on an EYLSA laser. Army work skews toward pulsed laser procurement: a $131,731 June 2026 order from Army Materiel Command for three Q-SMART 850 Nd:YAG lasers, a $80,986 tunable nanosecond laser system with accessories, and a $24,990 fiber laser delivery to the Army Research Laboratory.

Customer concentration reflects a research-and-science customer base rather than traditional defense primes. The Office of Naval Research dominates activity (48 awards, $976 thousand combined potential value), followed by NIST (18 awards, $770 thousand), NOAA (10 awards, $900 thousand), and NASA's Langley and Shared Services Centers combined (7 awards, $1.033 million). The top five agencies account for 62% of award count but 72% of combined potential value—reflecting NOAA's and Naval Observatory's larger lidar and specialized equipment orders anchoring dollars despite lower award volume. Army and Army Research Laboratory orders are smaller and more numerous. Across all 142 awards tracked in the source data, 30 distinct federal agencies have procured from Lumibird, spanning civilian research (NASA, NIST, NOAA, EPA, NSF), defense research (Office of Naval Research, Naval Sea Systems Command, Army Research Laboratory, Naval Observatory), and operational commands.

Recent vehicle activity is sparse relative to award count: the Naval Observatory's single-award Indefinite Delivery Contract (valued at $479,694.94, spanning September 2024 through September 2029) anchors the largest multi-year vehicle relationship, with two task orders issued to date ($180,780 and $90,390). Four other IDCs carry one to two task orders each; the source identifies these as Navy and Air Force vehicles but does not characterize the broader vehicle portfolio. Most awards flow through direct purchase orders rather than standing vehicles, indicating Lumibird competes largely through solicitation-responsive quoting rather than through established GWAC or BPA relationships.

Activity trajectory shows growth from a flat baseline: four awards in 2022, six in 2023, fifteen in 2024, eleven in 2025, and four awards through mid-2026 in the source data window. The combined potential value across all 142 awards stands at $5.6 million, with actual obligations at $6.8 million (indicating contract modifications and delivery adjustments that raised invoiced amounts above original ceilings). No recompete cliff is evident in the source; awards are discrete purchase orders with staggered completion dates rather than a concentrated renewal portfolio. The vendor's product-focused business model—manufacturing and shipping lasers and lidar units rather than delivering service labor—is confirmed by SCI (Service Contract Inventory) data showing minimal service-contract activity: only $653 thousand invoiced in FY2023 (0.2 FTEs) and no SCI-reportable activity in FY2024, indicating the vast majority of Lumibird's federal revenue derives from goods sales outside the SCI reporting threshold. Hourly rates in the single SCI record available ($1,813.61/hr) reflect engineering or technical labor tied to a lidar delivery rather than an ongoing service engagement.

The vendor's subcontract footprint shows recent supply of specialized optical components and laser systems to systems integrators: Q-SMART HE 2300 laser supplies through Atlantic Diving Supply for tactical/operational use, pulsed power systems and CFR laser equipment to HII Technical Solutions Corporation for Naval Research Laboratory projects, erbium-doped fiber amplifiers to The Aerospace Corporation, and Shrike DPSS laser systems to Federal Express Corporation for Army vehicle protection and survivability research under the Ground Vehicle Protection Survivability office. Sub volumes remain small relative to prime activity, consistent with the 93-to-7 prime-to-sub split.

NAICS classification concentrates in Fiber Optic Cable Manufacturing (35 awards), Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing (20 awards), and Optical Instrument and Lens Manufacturing (12 awards), with PSC clustering around Laboratory Equipment and Supplies (34 awards), Amplifiers (23 awards), and Fiber Optic Devices (17 awards). This product-centric taxonomy underscores Lumibird's identity as a specialized laser-and-optics manufacturer competing on technical capability and sole-source availability rather than on contract-vehicle positioning or set-aside credentials.