Nortekusa, Inc.

Nortekusa, Inc., a foreign-owned, self-certified small disadvantaged business headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, manufactures and distributes oceanographic instrumentation as a prime contractor on federal equipment procurement and maintenance orders—97% of its 176 awards in the past five years are prime contracts, predominantly full-and-open competitive purchases rather than set-aside vehicles. The company specializes in acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs), Aquadopp current meters, echosounders, and Doppler velocity loggers supplied under NAICS 334511 (Search, Detection, Navigation, Guidance, Aeronautical, and Nautical System and Instrument Manufacturing) and related instrument-manufacturing codes.

Nortekusa's customer concentration is extreme and monolithic. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration dominates its footprint with 80 awards valued at $12.8 million combined potential value—79% of all dollars—awarded across NOAA's Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS), Ecosystem Science Division, Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, and National Weather Service divisions for real-time waterway current measurement stations, moored buoy sensor upgrades, glider-mounted echosounders, and spare parts. The U.S. Geological Survey Office of Acquisitions and Grants contributes 59 awards valued at $2.1 million, concentrated on acoustic Doppler profilers and velocimeters for water science centers across California, Texas, Utah, and Mississippi, many under total small business set-asides. Navy customers (Secretary of the Navy Office of Naval Research, Bureau of Naval Personnel, Naval Education and Training Command) place 22 awards valued at $967 thousand collectively. No other agency exceeds one percent of the footprint. Representative prime work includes a $3.36 million definitive contract from NOAA in September 2024 for Aquadopp current meters and profilers with a six-month period of performance, a $936 thousand total small business set-aside from NOAA in June 2023 for Tropical Atmosphere Ocean array current meters, a $246 thousand sole-source delivery order from NOAA in February 2025 for Nortek spare parts justified by foreign-manufacture exemptions under FAR 25.104(a)(30), and recurring USGS purchase orders for Five-Beam Current Profiling Systems under total small business set-asides.

Nortekusa maintains a $1.1 million single-award indefinite delivery contract with NOAA for Aquadopp acoustic current meters and lithium battery packs, from which multiple task orders have been issued over the life of the vehicle. Four task orders under Indefinite Delivery Contract 1305M321DNRMA0011 carried $624 thousand combined potential value. Beyond that IDC, Nortekusa competes on individual purchase orders and definitive contracts; the vendor does not sit on government-wide acquisition contracts, multiple-award schedule vehicles, or agency-wide task-order pools.

Activity declined year over year from a peak of 16 awards in both 2022 and 2023 to 14 awards in 2024, 9 in 2025, and 7 year-to-date in 2026. Only three awards (combined potential value $303 thousand) reach ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, presenting minimal recompete exposure. Recent awards cluster heavily in September through November 2026 and September through May 2025, suggesting seasonal ordering patterns aligned with NOAA's fiscal planning for water observation network operations and equipment modernization.

Nortekusa functions as a subcontractor on five sub-awards, all in the past eighteen months: it delivered Doppler velocity logger replacements to Phoenix International Holdings for the Department of the Navy's South China Sea aircraft recovery mission in January 2026, submarine environmental awareness services as a sub under The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in October 2025, and Nortek Signature250, data logger, and Signature 1000 sensors as material subs under Atlantic Diving Supply across three awards in late 2023 and mid-2024. The subcontract work represents less than three percent of total awards and anchors to maritime, naval, and special-operations customers.

Nortekusa competes across both total small business set-asides and unrestricted procurements; roughly 40% of awards carry set-aside designations (primarily with USGS and occasional NOAA awards), while 60% are full-and-open competitive or sole-source justified by technical uniqueness and foreign-manufacture necessity. The company leverages FAR 25.104(a)(30) exemptions repeatedly to justify procurement of Nortek spare parts and replacement equipment where domestic equivalents are unavailable—a posture that has insulated most NOAA work from domestic supplier competition. Combined obligated dollars stand at $15.8 million, representing 97% of combined potential value and indicating high contract performance and minimal slippage.