Microbrightfield, LLC

Microbrightfield, LLC, doing business as Microbrightfield Inc., supplies advanced microscopy systems, imaging software, and data acquisition hardware to federal research agencies as a prime contractor (99% of awards), competing in full-and-open procurements without set-aside designations. The company is a for-profit partnership based in Williston, Vermont, and operates across commercial microscope hardware, proprietary software platforms (ScanImage, Stereo Investigator, Neurolucida, Vesselucida), and specialized optical instrumentation for neuroscience and biomedical research.

Customer concentration sits heavily with National Institutes of Health institutes and the Department of Veterans Affairs. The National Institute on Drug Abuse leads by award count (40 awards, $1.8 million combined potential value), followed by VA Veterans Integrated Service Network 1 (19 awards, $1.2 million) and the National Institute of Mental Health (19 awards, $144 thousand). These three customers account for 42% of all awards. The dollar ranking differs slightly — NIDA maintains the top spot at $1.8 million, but VA VISN 22 ranks third by value ($538 thousand) despite fewer awards, surfacing a mix of large single-unit systems and smaller software upgrades across the customer base. Over the past five years, activity shows volatility: eleven awards in 2022, five in 2023, ten in 2024, three in 2025, and one in 2026, with only five awards (combined potential value $114 thousand) facing ultimate completion in the next twenty-four months.

Recent prime work includes a $129.8 thousand Defense Health Agency delivery of a Stereo Investigator microscope system with software to the Army Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense at Aberdeen Proving Ground (September 2023), a $271.6 thousand National Institute on Aging confocal microscope scanner (September 2022), and a $520.9 thousand Veterans Integrated Service Network 1 order for ClearScope light microscopes (September 2021). Smaller orders dominate the recent footprint — purchase orders in the $12 thousand to $65 thousand range for software upgrades, data acquisition systems, and camera components are characteristic. Two named federal grant vehicles carry the company's innovation work: Microbrightfield is the recipient of National Institute of Mental Health Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants for volumetric 2-photon microscopy (awarded September 2022, completion August 2026), AI-based axonal quantification software called HyperAxon (awarded August 2021, completion June 2026), and a kilohertz-frame-rate optical imaging microscope called the 2P-ActivityScope (awarded January 2022, completion December 2026). The company also acts as a sub-recipient on University of California, Irvine-led NIH grants, providing customized ScanImage software and vDAQ data acquisition systems for two-photon microscope control (sub-awards dated January 2024 and December 2024).

Top NAICS categories reflect the hardware-software mix: Software Publishers (72 awards), Optical Instrument and Lens Manufacturing (24 awards), and Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing (23 awards). The vendor holds no standing seats on government-wide IDIQs or GWACs; recent work flows through small agency-specific BPAs (MD213730, V69DP4087) and a VA indefinite delivery contract (VA24117D0078). Microbrightfield operates as a pure prime — only two sub-awards appear in the record, both as a sub-recipient on grant work under UC Irvine. Combined potential value across all 241 awards stands at $9 million, but obligated dollars total $71.5 million, indicating mature contract performance and significant historical backlog. The vendor's federal footprint spans 43 distinct customer agencies, with concentration in life sciences and neuroscience research supported across civilian health, VA medical centers, and defense health agencies.