Materials Design, Inc.

Materials Design, Inc., a San Diego-based for-profit software company, sells Vienna Ab initio Simulation Package (VASP) and MedeA computational materials science software licenses and maintenance renewals to federal research agencies and national laboratories as a prime contractor (81% of recent awards) competing under full-and-open procurement without set-aside designations.

Materials Design holds the exclusive U.S. distribution rights for VASP software owned by VASP Software GMBH and develops and maintains the MedeA computational materials science platform. The vendor's concrete capability portfolio centers on perpetual software licenses for electronic structure calculations, density-functional theory modeling, materials simulation, thermal conductivity analysis, and related modules. Recent representative prime work includes a $68,200 firm fixed-price purchase order from Naval Sea Systems Command (issued March 2025) for MedeA software licenses and maintenance renewals supporting the Navy's computational materials science programs; a $42,750 perpetual non-profit license for the MedeA software suite including MLPG/MLP and Thermal Conductivity Modules from the Office of Naval Research (March 2025); a $38,000 VASP 6.6.X software renewal from ONR (April 2026) with ultimate completion in May 2031; and a $32,000 VASP license renewal and expansion from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (September 2024) providing perpetual licenses for 12 users with an option for 6 additional users to NIST's Materials Science and Engineering Division.

Customer concentration spans defense research, energy, and federal scientific agencies. The top five funding agencies account for 73% of recent award volume, led by NASA's Shared Services Center (7 awards, $139,000 combined potential value), the Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration (6 awards), the Army Materiel Command Research Development and Engineering Center (6 awards, $346,000 combined potential value), NASA Glenn Research Center (4 awards, $82,000 combined potential value), and the Office of Naval Research (4 awards, $144,000 combined potential value). The potential-value ranking shifts when Naval Sea Systems Command's two larger awards ($134,000 combined) surface that command's role as a significant customer despite lower award count.

The vendor operates as a prime on nearly all work and sits on no named parent contract vehicles—awards are individual purchase orders issued directly by customer agencies, primarily firm fixed-price renewals and new licenses. Activity accelerated from 1 award in 2020 to 7 in 2024, then moderated to 6 awards in 2026 year-to-date. Two awards (combined potential value $44,000) complete within the next twenty-four months, representing minimal recompete exposure. Across its subcontractor footprint, Materials Design provides MedeA software renewals and support to Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies on Department of Energy National Security Campus management-and-operations contracts (multiple sub awards 2024–2026), to Fluor Marine Propulsion on Naval Nuclear Laboratory and Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program support contracts (sub awards January 2026 and December 2024), and to Consolidated Nuclear Security on Y-12 National Security Complex operations (December 2024). The vendor's combined potential value of $974,000 across all awards reflects the modest per-unit value of license renewals; actual obligated dollars of $2.7 million across the portfolio indicate Materials Design's bundled delivery of multiple renewal cycles and multi-year license agreements to repeat customers.