Person-Borne Detection K-9 LLC

Person-Borne Detection K-9 LLC, a veteran-owned small business based in Bear Creek, North Carolina, supplies fully-trained explosive detection canines to the Department of Defense as a prime contractor operating under a $600,000 Blanket Purchase Agreement, and performs canine detection subject-matter expertise work as a named subcontractor to research primes.

The vendor structures as a limited liability partnership and competes on full-and-open (non-set-aside) awards, though one of its BPA calls carried a Total Small Business set-aside designation. All ten tracked awards split between DoD prime contracts and two subcontracts under defense research vehicles; customer concentration is total — the Department of Defense accounts for all eight of the vendor's prime awards ($776 thousand combined potential value), while the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate anchors two subcontracts. The top NAICS category is 61-61-07 (Security Guards and Patrol Services) at eight awards; the top PSC is Live Animals, Not Raised For Food, matching the vendor's service line.

The vendor's primary vehicle is a February 2022 DoD BPA (HQ003422A0004) with a $600,000 ceiling running through February 2027, which holds seven task orders totaling $176 thousand in combined potential value. Places of performance include Springfield, Virginia; Alexandria, Virginia; Bear Creek, North Carolina; and Washington D.C., serving DoD security and counter-explosives missions within 400 miles of the Pentagon. Recent task orders include a $50,414.75 delivery order issued February 12, 2026, completing June 30, 2026; a $19,867.90 call issued March 17, 2025, completing June 17, 2025; a $28,927.50 Total Small Business set-aside call issued March 10, 2023, completing June 8, 2023; and a $38,000 call issued May 18, 2022, completing June 17, 2022. Activity has remained modest at roughly one to three awards per year from 2022 through 2025, with seven of the BPA calls completing by mid-2026 and facing potential recompete.

As a subcontractor, Person-Borne Detection K-9 LLC delivers canine subject-matter expertise to Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory on an advancing detection tools and techniques effort (award date March 11, 2025) and to Battelle Memorial Institute on a canine solutions and performance enhancement effort (award date October 2, 2024). Across SCI-reportable federal service contracts above the $150,000 threshold, the vendor shows minimal captive federal services billing — three SCI records as a named subcontractor across FY2022–FY2024, with roughly 0.8 FTEs in FY2022 declining to 0.1 FTEs in FY2024 — a signal that the vendor's primary federal revenue flows through goods procurement (the $600,000 BPA and task orders) rather than billable labor.

PBDK9 is an innovative small business with a history of research and development of the Person Borne Explosive Detection capability.