PC Krause & Associates Inc.

PC Krause & Associates Inc., a West Lafayette, Indiana-based small business specializing in power electronics, thermal management, and advanced engineering R&D, operates predominantly as a prime contractor (87% of recent awards) across defense and aerospace agencies under total small business set-asides, with a secondary presence as a subcontractor to major primes including Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and Linquest Corporation. The firm is a Subchapter S corporation established in 1997 that competes almost exclusively under small-business reserves, primarily through SBIR and STTR vehicle mechanisms.

PC Krause's customer concentration sits heavily with the Department of the Air Force and the Department of the Navy. The top five funding agencies account for 87% of combined potential value: the Air Force Research Laboratory dominates with 70 awards totaling $68.3 million in combined potential value, followed by the Department of the Air Force (22 awards, $61.3 million), Naval Air Systems Command Naval Air Warfare Center (41 awards, $28.2 million), the Office of Naval Research (9 awards, $7.9 million), and NASA's Shared Services Center (21 awards, $6.3 million). Award concentration by count differs from dollar concentration — the Naval Air Warfare Center leads in award frequency but lags in aggregate dollars, while the Air Force Research Laboratory anchors both volume and value. The vendor has served 27 distinct agencies across the federal government, but defense and aerospace agencies account for the substantial majority of recent work.

Recent prime capability work spans power systems innovation, digital engineering, and vehicle autonomy. Representative awards include a $19.95 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract with the Air Force for advanced aircraft modeling, simulation, and digital engineering (ultimate completion December 2027); a $2.998 million Office of Naval Research SBIR Phase II for autonomous controls and power electronics research (ultimate completion July 2028); a $1.75 million Naval Sea Systems Command SBIR Phase II on submarine shipboard power supply bridge technology (ultimate completion December 2026); a $1.399 million Air Force Research Laboratory SBIR Phase II on an affordable electrical accumulator unit (ultimate completion August 2027); and a $1.4 million Naval Air Warfare Center cost-plus-fixed-fee R&D contract (ultimate completion April 2029). Current work also includes a $198 thousand Phase III Integrated Arc Fault/High Voltage Switchgear Development award (March 2026, completion September 2026) and a $149.9 thousand SBIR Phase I on electric aircraft health management algorithms (September 2025, completion March 2026).

PC Krause places task orders under two major indefinite-delivery vehicles. The Air Force Research Laboratory Indefinite Delivery Contract FA865004D2409 carries 22 task orders valued at $37.8 million in combined potential value, and F3361599D2974 supports 6 task orders. The Naval Air Warfare Center Basic Ordering Agreement N6833512G0006, awarded March 15, 2023 for SBIR Phase III research and development, carries 3 task orders with $4.4 million in combined potential value and runs through March 2028. Additional vehicles include 47QFLA23D0007 (3 task orders) and N0016799D0100 (3 task orders).

Award activity has remained relatively stable over the past five years — ranging from 12 to 15 awards annually across 2022–2025 — though the most recent fiscal year (2026) shows only one award to date in the source snapshot. Thirteen awards with combined potential value of $52.6 million face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, representing significant recompete exposure for PC Krause and competitive opportunity for rivals on renewal solicitations.

In its subcontractor role, PC Krause delivers engineering services and technical support to Northrop Grumman on a series of tactical range extender programs and DARPA research efforts (multiple awards in 2024–2025), to Linquest Corporation on SBIR Phase III IDEAAS task orders and Sky Borg advanced aircraft program support, to Lockheed Martin on multidiscipline analysis and design optimization work, to the University of Dayton on aerospace structures engineering and research, to Radiance Technologies on Army Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office program support, and to EaglePicher Technologies on high-power power conversion systems development. Subcontract engagement remains limited — the vendor subcontracts to others on roughly 13% of total awards — and PC Krause operates primarily as its own delivery team rather than through extensive subcontractor networks.

Award portfolio categorization shows heavy concentration in research and development: the top NAICS codes are Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (137 combined awards across two related codes) and Engineering Services. PSC-level coding emphasizes National Defense R&D Services (47 awards), Space R&D Services (19 awards), and Electronics/Communication Equipment R&D (14 awards). Service Contract Inventory data are sparse for PC Krause — SCI captures only $328 thousand across three records in FY2022–FY2024, reflecting 0.6 to 0.7 FTEs — indicating the vendor's federal revenue is predominantly project-based R&D contracts (outside the SCI reporting threshold) rather than labor-hour services contracts. Government-paid hourly rates on SCI-reportable work ranged from roughly $113/hr at the 10th percentile to $129/hr at the 90th percentile, with a median of $121/hr, though SCI's sparse coverage of PC Krause's footprint makes this pricing signal of limited decisiveness.

Specializes in modeling, simulation, analysis, and design, of power systems and power system components with particular emphasis on power-electronic-based systems being used in or designed for ships, ground vehicles, aircraft and spacecraft.