Nexair LLC

Nexair LLC, a Memphis, Tennessee-based industrial gas and welding supplies distributor, operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of Linde Gas & Equipment Inc. and supplies compressed industrial gases, specialty medical gases, welding equipment, and cryogenic products to the federal government as a full-and-open prime contractor competing predominantly outside set-aside categories. The company maintains 1,329 prime awards (100% of its 1,335 total awards) across 42 distinct federal customer agencies, with six subcontracts to major primes including Amentum Services, Bechtel National, and BL Harbert International. Nexair does not hold active SBA certifications and competes on open market terms.

Nexair's capability portfolio centers on industrial and specialty gas distribution, with concrete product lines including nitrogen, oxygen, argon, acetylene, hydrogen, helium, nitrous oxide, and propane supplied as compressed cylinders, bulk gas, and liquid forms, alongside welding equipment, cylinder rental and maintenance, cryogenic equipment, tank telemetry, and hazmat and delivery services. Recent representative work includes a single-award $1.2 million indefinite-delivery contract awarded by the FDA on September 18, 2026, for compressed gases and dry ice (two delivery orders: $115,000 and $30,000, both due September 18, 2027); a $3 million single-award BPA established with the Department of the Army on August 30, 2023, for welding gases and supplies supporting Army Corps of Engineers operations nationwide with nine calls issued totaling approximately $869 thousand; a $250,000 BPA awarded by Air Combat Command on May 8, 2025, for medical and aviation gas supply through May 2030; and a $48,712 firm-fixed-price purchase order from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on September 11, 2026, for hydrogen gas delivery to the National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office in Jackson, Mississippi, with base-year and four optional one-year extension periods running through September 2031.

Customer concentration is diffuse but anchored by civilian health and defense logistics agencies. The top five customer agencies by award count account for 48% of awards but skew toward low-dollar transaction volume: the Army Corps of Engineers Memphis District leads with 252 awards ($1.5 million combined potential value), Air Education and Training Command with 180 awards ($397 thousand), and Defense Logistics Agency Energy with 116 awards ($1.6 million). The top five by potential value tell a different story — the FDA dominates with 58 awards carrying $6.7 million combined value, the Army with 8 awards worth $3.6 million, and CDC (two offices) with 39 awards totaling $4.4 million. The divergence reflects Nexair's dual customer profile: high-frequency, modest-value task orders flowing through Army Corps and Air Force IDVs paired with larger-dollar food-safety and public-health gas supply contracts at civilian agencies.

Nexair sits on five primary IDV vehicles, anchored by the indefinite-delivery contract W912EQ07A0007 (222 task orders, $535 thousand combined value) with the Army Corps of Engineers Memphis District — this is Nexair's largest single vehicle by call frequency. The Air Force Air Education and Training Command IDC FA302215D0001 has generated 140 task orders carrying $36 thousand combined value. Three additional Air Force, Energy, and Defense Health Agency IDCs carry 60, 66, and 26 task orders respectively. These vehicles characterize Nexair's operating posture: the firm is locked into a high-transaction-volume, transactional pricing model with defense logistics and military engineering offices, relying on standing IDVs and BPAs to generate recurring orders for commodity industrial gases.

Recent activity has been sparse relative to historical baseline. Awards per year averaged 10–17 annually from 2022–2023 (17 and 14 respectively), dropped to 7 in 2024, rebounded to 13 in 2025, and stand at 10 through September 2026. Combined potential value across the 1,335 awards is $26.9 million, with $15.5 million obligated (58% execution rate). Six awards face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, representing $671 thousand in recompete exposure. The modest ceiling values ($1.2 million FDA IDC, $3 million Army BPA, $250,000 ACC BPA) and high call volume suggest Nexair operates in a low-margin, commodity-supply posture; the company's value driver is distribution footprint and logistics reliability rather than technical differentiation or specialized engineering.

In its subcontract role, Nexair supplies welding gas and consumables to Bechtel National on NASA's Space Launch System Mobile Launcher 2 design-and-construction effort (awarded November 2021), orbital welder spare parts and filler metal to BL Harbert International for work in the Republic of Congo (February 2026), cylinder maintenance and hazardous materials management support to Amentum Services at DLA distribution centers (May 2025, March 2027), and ultra-high-purity argon dewars for Kennedy Space Center propellants and life support services (April 2025). The subcontract footprint is thin relative to the prime portfolio and reflects the parent company's (Linde) positioning as a gas supplier to large systems integrators and program management firms rather than a systems or service contractor in its own right.

Nexair's federal contracting history spans from October 2000 to the present. The company's primary NAICS concentration sits in Industrial Gas Manufacturing (433 awards) and Industrial Supplies Merchant Wholesalers (300 awards), with secondary activity in pharmaceutical preparation, health care retail, and chemical distribution. PSC 6830 (Gases: Compressed and Liquefied) accounts for 653 awards; Medical and Surgical Instruments, Equipment, and Supplies PSC covers 203. The award portfolio carries no set-aside or small business designations on current vehicles, with two historical exceptions: a September 2024 Army Forces Command purchase order for compressed gas services ($133,783, Total Small Business set-aside) and several CDC purchases marked as small-business set-asides dating to 2022–2023. The absence of active set-aside positioning signals that Nexair competes as a full-sized subsidiary of a foreign-owned global industrial-gas manufacturer (Linde AG, Germany-headquartered) and does not pursue preferences tied to domestic small-business or disadvantaged-ownership status.