Life Cycle Engineering Inc.

Life Cycle Engineering Inc., doing business as L C E, is a North Charleston, South Carolina-based engineering and technical services firm that operates predominantly as a prime contractor (94% of recent awards) to the Department of the Navy, delivering systems engineering, machinery control systems integration, cybersecurity support, and life cycle sustainment services for naval vessels and fleet readiness across full-and-open and small-business set-aside delivery orders. The company is a for-profit corporate entity with no SBA designations visible in the source; however, it frequently holds seats on small-business set-aside IDIQs and competes for full-and-open work.

LCE's customer concentration is extreme and monolithic: the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) accounts for 324 awards carrying $13.4 billion in combined potential value, representing roughly 97% of the vendor's federal award dollars and 29% of recent prime awards by count. The next four customer agencies combined account for less than 3% of potential value. This concentration flows from NACSEA's reliance on LCE across multiple large-dollar IDIQs for ship systems modernization and sustainment. The Department of the Navy broadly (including NAVSEA, Information Warfare Systems Command, Naval Air Systems Command, Fleet Forces Command, and Military Sealift Command) accounts for 89% of awards by count and over 99% of potential value. NAVSEA dominates both metrics.

LCE's vehicle position reflects its Navy footprint. The vendor holds or sits on multiple large NAVSEA vehicles: a $555.8 million multiple-award LCS (Littoral Combat Ship) sustainment contract with small-business set-aside portions (Littoral Combat Ships Class Sustainment Execution Contract – West Coast Part III); a $496.1 million multiple-award engineering services IDIQ supporting NAVSEA Divisions 41 and 43 (Hull, Mechanical and Electrical Machinery and Systems Services IDIQ); a $249.7 million small-business set-aside multiple-award IDIQ for Modernization and Life Cycle Engineering for Cybersecure Machinery Control Systems and Networks; a $50.7 million single-award IDIQ for engineering and technical services (awarded December 2023); a $48.5 million multiple-award IDIQ for engineering maintenance support to U.S. Fleet Forces Command (Atlantic); a $35.7 million combatants acquisition multiple-award contract; and a $18.75 million delivery order under Seaport-NXG at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard. Additionally, LCE was awarded a $151 billion multiple-award IDIQ from the Missile Defense Agency (SHIELD – Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense) on December 29, 2025, with an initial $500 delivery order and performance through December 28, 2035. Recent task orders under NAVSEA vehicles span ship systems engineering for Littoral Combat Ships, DDG-51 destroyers, LPD-17 amphibious transport docks, CVN aircraft carriers, and LSD/LSM landing craft; eCDIS-N navigation systems; machinery control systems modernization; and program management support at Naval Surface Warfare Center Philadelphia Division, major shipyard partners, and OEM facilities. LCE also placed 118 task orders under GSA Federal Supply Schedule GS-23F0012K with a combined potential value of $18 million.

Activity has accelerated: the vendor received 15 awards in 2022, 14 in 2023, 55 in 2024, and 54 in 2025. The recompete cliff is material: 28 awards with combined potential value of $164.9 million are scheduled to complete in the next twenty-four months, representing recompete exposure across multiple NAVSEA vehicle lines.

LCE's capability portfolio, grounded in the work named in recent awards, centers on systems engineering and technical services for naval platforms. Representative prime work includes a $12.1 million delivery order (April 2025, set-aside for Total Small Business) for CODE 515 LHD/A and AEGIS Ashore machinery control systems and hull, mechanical, and electrical engineering support through September 2029; a $5.6 million order (July 2024) for LPD-17 amphibious transport dock navigation and HM&E control systems engineering, in-service engineering agent support, and cybersecurity; a $5.4 million delivery order (July 2024) for Naval Combat Data Systems, Naval Display Systems, and Navy Distinctive Designation Systems contractor support on a cost-plus-fixed-fee basis; a $4.26 million order (November 2025) for program management, engineering, technical, financial, and cyber support personnel coordinating surface ship program design and engineering efforts at NSWCPD and major OEM facilities; a $16.9 million delivery order (July 2024, Seaport-NXG vehicle) for hull, mechanical, and electrical support to the Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center; a $13.5 million contract modification for fuels and lubricants support to the Naval Air Warfare Center; and multiple smaller orders for ECDIS-N support, DDG-1000 and DDG-51 engineering services, LCS planned maintenance availabilities (including a $18.4 million order in October 2024), and equipment survivability testing for the LHA 6 America-class amphibious assault ship. LCE also holds a small-business set-aside SBIR Phase II contract valued at $1.2 million from NAVSEA for the Space Based Infrared System High (SBIRS High) program. LCE is also recipient of a Maritime Administration cooperative agreement for analysis and research on maritime decarbonization, which closed out on June 11, 2024.

LCE operates as a subcontractor on a smaller scale: 80 sub awards represent 6% of recent awards by count. Named primes LCE subs to include Noblis MSD LLC (navigation systems integration, logistics program management, engineering control systems for LPD and LSM classes, in-service engineering agent support, and HM&E systems), HII Fleet Support Group LLC (carrier engineering maintenance assist team, technical work documents, work packaging and control services), Saalex Corp (DITAC network infrastructure), Crowley Government Services (Cape S-class vessel engineering), Metro Machine Corp. (ship docking and restricted availability support), Vigor Marine LLC (LCS planned maintenance availabilities), QED Systems (labor support for surface and aviation destroyer engineering support system and CNO availability planning), Thor Solutions LLC (IT and IA project management for Naval Underscore Warfare Center), Valkyrie Enterprises (technical manuals and planned maintenance systems), Mantech Advanced Systems International (surface ship life cycle maintenance engineering), and others. Across SCI-reportable prime contracts, subcontractors account for an average of 24% of total contractor hours, with 45 named subcontractors visible in the SCI footprint.

SCI-reported invoiced revenue totaled $62.8 million across FY2022–FY2024 ($23.3 million in FY2022, $9.4 million in FY2023, $30.2 million in FY2024), with workforce scale fluctuating between 75.5 FTEs (FY2023) and 153 FTEs (FY2024) on SCI-reportable prime contracts. Government-paid hourly rates on federal services contracts span a median of $77.84/hr, with the 10th percentile at $14.10/hr and the 90th percentile at $134.66/hr, reflecting a mix of labor categories from junior technical staff to senior engineers and program managers. SCI data represent only contracts above the $150,000 reporting threshold and exclude goods, products, and non-federal revenue; they understate the vendor's total federal revenue and workforce.

Life Cycle Engineering, Inc. has been serving clients since 1976 - helping them accomplish their goals and improve performance in a reliable, cost-effective way. Over the last 46 years we have worked with hundreds of private companies and government programs. That adds up to a lot of problems solved! Life Cycle Engineering provides consulting, engineering, IT, and education solutions that deliver lasting results for private industry, public entities, government organizations, and the military. The quality, expertise, and dedication of our employees enables us to serve as a trusted resource.