Keystone Ocean Services, Inc.

Keystone Ocean Services, Inc., a for-profit small business based in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, provides licensed and unlicensed mariner staffing and marine engineering support to NOAA's oceanographic research fleet and to the U.S. Navy as a prime contractor under total small business set-asides. The company operates exclusively as a prime contractor with no subcontract footprint and competes entirely under small business set-asides across its federal portfolio.

Keystone is a child entity of Chas Kurz & Co Inc., also based in Bala Cynwyd. The vendor delivers concrete maritime personnel services — licensed marine engineers (First Assistant Engineer, Second Assistant Engineer, Third Assistant Engineer), able-bodied seamen, ordinary seamen, chief cooks, stewards, oilers, and wipers — to support vessel operations and research missions across two principal federal customers. Performance occurs at two geographic locations: Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania and Newport, Oregon, with operations distributed across both sites to support NOAA's vessel homeports.

Customer concentration is heavily skewed toward the Department of the Navy, which accounts for 204 awards (48% of the 424-award portfolio) with $101.9 million in combined potential value. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration represents the second-largest customer base at 193 awards (46% of portfolio) with $43.6 million combined potential value. The Department of Transportation Maritime Administration, a distant third, holds 27 awards with $12.8 million combined potential value. The top customers by award count and by dollar value are identical, indicating balanced order sizing across the two dominant customers.

Keystone holds five named indefinite-delivery contracts spanning the portfolio. The Navy's Indefinite Delivery Contract DTMA8C11024 carries 109 task orders worth $54.2 million combined potential value, and DTMA8C11023 carries 120 task orders worth $60.6 million, anchoring the largest share of Navy work. For NOAA, a single-award total small business set-aside IDIQ (1305M221DNMAN0028) valued at $4.8 million, awarded in September 2021, generated 115 task orders, and a newer July 2023 IDIQ (1305M223DNMAN0018) with a $9.9 million ceiling has generated 32 task orders to date with performance extending through June 30, 2028. A fourth Navy vehicle (DOCEA133M16CQ0018) carries 43 task orders worth $1.9 million.

Representative NOAA work includes a $1.4 million delivery order awarded September 1, 2026 for licensed and unlicensed mariner support services extending through June 30, 2027; a $4 million delivery order from July 1, 2025 for mariner staffing completing September 30, 2026; and a $1,975,015 not-to-exceed task order from July 15, 2024 for marine engineering and crew staffing with performance through June 28, 2028. Smaller individual vessel crew-rotation orders (ranging from approximately $5,600 to $128,000) address specific positions aboard NOAA research vessels including the Rainier, Fairweather, Ferdinand Hassler, Oscar Dyson, Shimada, Okeanos Explorer, Pisces, Nancy Foster, Gordon Gunter, Reuben Lasker, and Oscar Sette, demonstrating sustained reliance across NOAA's oceanographic research fleet.

Activity has been concentrated in 2022 and 2023, with 69 awards in 2022 and 72 in 2023; award volume dropped substantially to 2 in 2024, 1 in 2025, and 1 in 2026, reflecting the shift toward larger, longer-term task orders under the newer indefinite-delivery contracts. Only three awards face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months with combined potential value of $3.2 million, indicating minimal near-term recompete exposure. The vendor's portfolio is dominated by Deep Sea Freight Transportation (231 awards) and Engineering Services (193 awards) NAICS classifications, and operation of non-building facilities (190 awards) and professional support (188 awards) PSC codes, reflecting the nature of vessel crew staffing and marine engineering delivery.