Palladian Partners, Inc.

Palladian Partners, Inc., doing business as Palladian Partners of Maryland, is a for-profit communications, strategic marketing, and public relations firm that operates primarily as a prime contractor delivering health-science communications and administrative support services to civilian federal agencies, predominantly within the Department of Health and Human Services. The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Altarum Institute, a nonprofit research and consulting organization headquartered in Novi, Michigan, with Palladian Partners operating from Silver Spring, Maryland. Palladian Partners competes predominantly full-and-open, not under set-asides, though it holds a single-award Total Small Business set-aside designation on its anchor vehicle, the Public Information and Communications Services III (PICS III) indefinite-delivery contract awarded in December 2024 with a $1 billion ceiling through December 2029.

Palladian Partners' customer concentration is heavily concentrated in HHS and the National Institutes of Health. Of the top five agencies by award count, NIH operating divisions and offices account for four slots: the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (133 awards, $36.7 million combined potential value), the National Cancer Institute (73 awards, $207.3 million), the NIH Office of Logistics and Acquisition Operations (47 awards, $2.83 billion), and the Office of the Director (47 awards, $8.7 million). These five agencies account for 53% of all recent awards in the source. On the potential-value ranking, the concentration shifts toward dollars: NIH's Office of Logistics and Acquisition Operations anchors the portfolio at $2.83 billion combined potential value across 47 delivery orders, driven primarily by the PICS III single-award IDIQ itself, while the Agriculture Department's Office of the Chief Financial Officer ranks second with $250.6 million across 17 awards, and the National Cancer Institute places third with $207.3 million. The top five customer agencies by potential value collectively account for 86% of the combined potential value across all awards.

Palladian Partners' vehicle position centers on two primary vehicles. The Multiple Award Schedule holds 210 task orders valued at $204.8 million combined potential value, enabling delivery of communications, meeting planning, transcription, and translation services to civilian agencies. The newly awarded PICS III indefinite-delivery contract, though carrying a $1 billion ceiling, represents the company's strategic foundation for future task-order growth across HHS and its operating divisions through December 2029. The Professional Services Schedule (131 task orders, $4.3 million) provides supplementary ordering authority. The company also participates in legacy HHS indefinite-delivery vehicles including NIH Conference Administrative and Travel Services II (60 task orders, $10.7 million) and two older indefinite-delivery contracts from the late 2000s. Recent delivery-order work exemplifies the portfolio: a $2.93 million firm fixed-price delivery order from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development awarded March 2026 for OSPRA program support under the PICS III vehicle (Total Small Business set-aside); a $3.87 million time-and-materials delivery order from NIH's Office of Logistics and Acquisition Operations for All of Us Research Program communications, outreach, and logistics support under PICS II; a $1.82 million delivery order from the National Institute on Aging for small-business and career-development integrated marketing and communications support; and a $249,817 time-and-materials delivery order from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for transcription and translation services under the GSA MAS vehicle.

Activity has declined modestly in recent years: five awards in 2022, four in 2023, six in 2024, two in 2025, and one in 2026 year-to-date. A significant recompete exposure emerged in March 2025 when the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development terminated for convenience a $10.25 million firm fixed-price MAS delivery order for communication and outreach support, citing alignment with the administration's Government Efficiency Cost Efficiency Initiative. That termination followed completion of a prior $14.93 million NICHD communications contract. The company's 696-award footprint spanning back to 1996 reflects sustained federal presence, though recent annual volume suggests a shift toward larger, higher-value delivery orders on core vehicles rather than incremental new awards.

Palladian Partners operates predominantly as a self-performing prime. Across SCI-reportable service contracts (57 prime records covering FY2022–FY2024), the average subcontractor-hours share was 3% of total contractor hours, with only four named subcontractors reported. The one named sub-award in the source is a September 2023 sub position under ABT Global LLC for valvular heart disease education and awareness support to the CDC's DHDSP. SCI-reported invoicing on prime contracts totaled $29.8 million in FY2022, $35.1 million in FY2023, and $29.1 million in FY2024, across 102, 89, and 73.1 FTEs respectively, reflecting declining federal service-contract workforce across the period. Government-paid hourly rates on SCI-reportable prime contracts ranged from a 10th percentile of $110.99/hr to a median of $141.68/hr and a 90th percentile of $343.93/hr, reflecting a portfolio spanning entry-level administrative and communications roles through senior strategic and design expertise. The GSA Schedule labor catalog carries 87 active categories spanning $62.08/hr proofreaders (bachelor's, no experience) through $264.98/hr communications experts and social marketers (bachelor's, three years' experience), with senior meeting planners, senior graphic designers, and web graphic designers occupying the mid-to-upper spectrum at $110–$184/hr. No security-cleared roles are offered on the GSA Schedule.

Expertise: science/technical writing, editing, publications development/management, graphic design, meeting planning, event promotion, admin.services, database development, web site design/development, exhibit development, management of exhibit programs