National Marine Mammal Foundation, Inc.

National Marine Mammal Foundation, Inc., a San Diego-based tax-exempt nonprofit, provides marine mammal science, veterinary care, and conservation support services to the Department of the Navy and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as a prime recipient on federal grants and contracts (81% of recent awards) and as a subcontractor on NOAA environmental remediation and marine mammal health programs. The Foundation has held federal awards since 2010 and competes on a full-and-open basis across civilian and defense agencies without set-aside designation.

The Foundation's customer base concentrates heavily on Navy programs. The Department of the Navy accounts for 44 of 69 total awards across four subordinate commands: the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command dominates by potential value (4 awards, $181 million combined), chiefly the $47 million cost-plus fixed-fee definitive contract awarded August 28, 2024, for marine mammal science, veterinary, and volunteer support services through August 31, 2029. The Office of Naval Research (23 awards, $1.4 million combined potential value) funds research grants on bottlenose dolphin immunology, marine mammal hearing and physiology, machine-learning vocal biomarkers, and STEM education ("Dolphin Doctor" place-based programs). Naval Facilities Engineering Command (5 awards, $1.5 million combined) issued research contracts on killer-whale loudness perception ($343,645, November 2021) and temporary threshold shift during sonar exposure ($368,463, November 2021), both concluding December 31, 2023. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration places 18 awards (18% of award count, $251 thousand combined potential value), split between research grants on marine mammal conservation in the Gulf of Mexico and the Northern Coastal Stock, and a $584,359 cooperative agreement (October 1, 2025 – September 30, 2029, CFDA 11.472) supporting marine mammal rescue, rehabilitation, vessel and drone surveillance, photo-identification surveys, and remote biopsy operations across the Gulf of Mexico and other U.S. waters. The National Science Foundation awarded a $643,665 collaborative research grant (December 1, 2023 – November 30, 2027) on oxygen transport mechanisms in diving mammals (California sea lions and bottlenose dolphins).

The Foundation sits on the SeaPort-e contract vehicle (3 task orders, $75.5 million combined potential value), the GSA Multiple Award Schedule (5 task orders), and the Professional Services Schedule (3 task orders). Two awards face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, presenting recompete opportunity. Activity has remained modest to moderate — four to seven awards per fiscal year across 2022–2024, with three awards in 2026 year-to-date — suggesting a lean federal footprint focused on specialized marine mammal science rather than broad service delivery. The Foundation subcontracts to prime contractors Industrial Economics Inc. (oil-spill natural resource damage assessments and emergency response on NOAA contracts), ABT Global LLC (bottlenose dolphin injury quantification and restoration planning under NOAA), and Luna Labs USA LLC (ECG device provision for dolphin research). On the grant side, the Foundation acts as sub-recipient under Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (satellite tagging of bottlenose and Atlantic spotted dolphins under NOAA RESTORE Program), the University of Houston System (urine-sample collection and analysis), Carnegie Mellon University (auditory object learning), and Tulane University (environmental risk factors in marine mammal health). Service Contract Inventory reports minimal overlap with the federal services reporting universe — one SCI-reported subcontract in FY2022 on 4.4 FTEs — reflecting the Foundation's concentration on research, grant-funded science, and specialized veterinary and conservation services outside the standard federal services taxonomy.