Parabon Nanolabs, Inc.

Parabon Nanolabs, Inc., a small business based in Reston, Virginia, provides DNA engineering, nanocarrier design, forensic genealogy analysis, and bioinformatics software development to the Department of Defense, Department of Health and Human Services, and National Science Foundation as a prime contractor on 98% of its recent federal awards. The company operates under total small business set-aside designations across the majority of its research contract portfolio and competes full-and-open on certain software maintenance and licensing work.

Parabon Nanolabs' federal customer concentration centers on defense research and development. The Department of the Army Materiel Command Research Development and Engineering Command anchors the portfolio with 16 awards valued at $14.3 million combined potential value, representing 54% of total potential value across all awards. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency follows with 7 awards at $5.4 million, and DOD Washington Headquarters Service contributes 2 awards at $3.7 million. The National Institutes of Health National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate, and Defense Health Agency round out the active federal customer set. Across the portfolio, SBIR Phase II contracts dominate the award count, with recent work including a $1.25 million Phase II SBIR with DTRA for KIN-X pedigree reconstruction and kinship analysis software (completion September 2027), a $1.1 million Phase II SBIR with DTRA for nanocarrier blood-brain-barrier transport systems (completion February 2027), and a $1.4 million Phase II SBIR with Army RDECOM for nanoantibiotics platform development targeting aerosolized biothreat pathogens (completion January 2025). Parabon also holds a $581,691 full-and-open Defense Health Agency purchase order for FX System maintenance and support running through September 2028, and a $261,384 full-and-open headquarters software license and maintenance contract expiring April 2027.

The vendor has expanded its federal grant footprint in biotechnology and gene therapy. A $295,294 grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (CFDA 93.855, obligated June 2026, completion August 2027) funds METADX, a software platform for rapid diagnosis of invasive fungal infections using whole metagenomic sequencing and machine learning. Two prior grants from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences support DNA origami-based gene editing platforms: a virus-inspired DNA origami (VIDO) nanoengineering platform for programmable CRISPR therapies against rare genetic diseases (completion November 2025) and parametric design software for nanostructured CRISPR payloads (completion April 2025). These grants represent Parabon's capability in computational biology, genome editing delivery systems, and diagnostic bioinformatics.

Activity has been volatile. The portfolio shows four awards in 2022, five in 2023, one in 2024, two in 2025, and one in 2026 year-to-date, indicating procurement concentration in specific fiscal years rather than sustained pipeline growth. Five awards with combined potential value of $2.6 million reach ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months and face recompete risk. The SCI dataset, which covers federal service contracts above $150,000 reporting threshold, shows minimal activity: $615 thousand in invoiced revenue across three prime records spanning FY2022–FY2024, with FY2024 activity of $600 thousand across 2.6 FTEs. Government-paid hourly rates on these SCI-reportable contracts ranged from a 10th percentile of $4.89/hr to a 90th percentile of $93.66/hr, with a median around $24.44/hr. Parabon operates as a direct prime on its SBIR and grant work with minimal subcontractor engagement — SCI records show an average 3% share of hours performed by subcontractors.

Parabon Nanolabs is a child entity of parent company Parabon Computation, Inc., also based in Reston, which does not itself hold federal prime awards. The company's research portfolio spans NAICS codes in biotechnology R&D (7 awards), physical and engineering science R&D (13 awards), nanotechnology R&D (4 awards), and testing laboratory services (4 awards), with PSC coding emphasizing basic research, defense R&D services, and life sciences R&D. The vendor's capability framing centers on DNA nanotechnology as a delivery platform — its awards demonstrate sustained investment in nanocarrier synthesis, gene therapy vectors, antimicrobial applications against biothreat agents, forensic genealogy software, and pathogen diagnostics infrastructure.