MQ Prime LLC

MQ Prime LLC, a small business limited liability company based in Ashburn, Virginia, develops cybersecurity and situational awareness tools for the Department of Defense as a prime contractor under small business set-asides (60% of recent awards) and as a subcontractor on defense R&D programs. The company specializes in adversarial cyber effects simulation, base station detection technology, and cyber-threat emulation capabilities, with work concentrated in Air Force Research Laboratory SBIR awards and special operations cyber initiatives.

MQ Prime's recent prime portfolio centers on three Air Force awards. The largest is a $1.25 million Phase II SBIR contract from AFRL (awarded October 2023, completing July 2025) for the Adversarial Cyber Effects and Survey System (ACCESS), which develops adversarial cyber capabilities and survey tools to strengthen DoD cyber defenses. A Phase I SBIR award from AFRL (December 2023, completed March 2024) for $75 thousand supported ACCESS Point Name research for improved situational awareness. Most recently, the Air Mobility Command awarded a $175 thousand total small business set-aside purchase order (December 2025, completing July 2026) under the PEO SOF WARRIOR Secure and Protect Infrastructure Through Cyber-Threat Emulation (SPICE) open topic for cyber-threat emulation capabilities supporting special operations. All work is performed at MQ Prime's facilities in Ashburn and Leesburg, Virginia.

Customer concentration is fragmented across defense and research agencies. The Air Force Materiel Command Research Laboratory drives 52% of combined potential value (two SBIR awards worth $1.3 million), followed by the Air Mobility Command at 11% ($175 thousand). The National Science Foundation and United States Marine Corps account for the remaining awards. MQ Prime sits on the Alliant II government-wide acquisition contract and carries one task order under that vehicle.

In its subcontractor capacity, MQ Prime performs computer systems design services under Mantech Advanced Systems International and contributes Base-Select technology and proprietary ground-truth data to a Johns Hopkins University sub-award on a Department of Defense AVOID classifier effort. One award ($175 thousand combined potential value) reaches ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months and faces recompete exposure in that window.