Pfeiffer Vacuum, Inc.

Pfeiffer Vacuum, Inc., a foreign-owned, for-profit manufacturer headquartered in Nashua, New Hampshire, sells specialized vacuum equipment—turbomolecular pumps, helium leak detectors, mass spectrometers, gas analysis systems, and related components—to federal research, defense, and development agencies as a prime contractor on purchase orders. The vendor operates almost exclusively in the full-and-open market (no set-aside activity across 476 awards) and competes on commercial item bases, typically under lowest-price-technically-acceptable (LPTA) solicitations or sole-source awards when the agency requires Pfeiffer's proprietary equipment.

Pfeiffer Vacuum's capability portfolio is narrowly defined by its core product line. Recent representative awards include a $33,161 helium leak checker and parts for Army Research Laboratory's High Frequency Electronics and Materials Branch (July 2026, ultimately completed September 2026); a $51,884 HiPace 1200 turbo pump package with cables and splinter shields for the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Physical Measurements Laboratory supporting quantum information science and electrical standards research (July 2025, completion October 2025); a $68,265 Omnistar mass spectrometer (GSD 350) for the Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory (February 2023, delivery through May 2025); and a $63,273 GSD 350 O2C gas analysis system for DOE's Office of Fossil Energy (February 2023, March 2023 completion). Across all awards, the vendor supplies pump and pumping equipment (202 NAICS hits), analytical laboratory instruments (103 hits), process control instruments, and instrument repair services. Purchase orders dominate the vehicle mix—Laboratory Equipment and Supplies (186 PSC hits) and Compressors and Vacuum Pumps (148 PSC hits) represent the consolidated tactical footprint.

Customer concentration is moderate and spread across technical agencies. The top five customer organizations (by award count and potential value tracked together) account for 45–46% of all awards and dollars: the Office of Naval Research leads with 75 awards worth $687 thousand combined potential value; the National Institute of Standards and Technology follows with 51 awards worth $746 thousand; NASA Goddard Space Center holds 43 awards worth $492 thousand; NASA's Shared Services Center carries 35 awards worth $818 thousand (the highest single-customer dollar value); and the Department of Energy's Office of Fossil Energy rounds out the top five with 4 awards worth $198 thousand. The vendor serves 48 distinct customer agencies across the federal government, reflecting broad adoption of its proprietary equipment rather than concentration in any single customer or agency cluster.

Activity has fluctuated modestly. The vendor recorded ten awards in 2022, eight in 2023, twelve in 2024, nine in 2025, and three in 2026 through mid-year. Combined potential value across all 476 awards totals $6.4 million, with $7.3 million in obligated dollars—a sign that awards are frequently modified upward or that actual invoiced amounts exceed initial ceiling values. The vendor's subcontract footprint is minimal (nine sub-awards, or 2% of the total portfolio), with recent examples including a vacuum pump package for the MIST II contract under prime Aerodyne-Sgt Engineering Services (June 2026), a HiPace 700H pump for Oak Ridge National Laboratory under prime UT-Battelle (June 2026), an ASM 340 helium leak detector for NASA's JSC engineering and exploration directorates (August 2025), and pump-replacement and leak-detection equipment for the National Security Campus under prime Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies (December 2024 and August 2024 respectively). The vendor also operates through a named subsidiary, Nor-Cal Products, Inc., a foreign-owned manufacturer registered as a separate awardee.

Pfeiffer Vacuum's federal footprint is characterized by high frequency of small, specialized procurements ($15,000 to $70,000 per order) across a wide customer base, with no participation in GWACs, BPAs, or agency-wide IDVs. The vendor's position as the sole manufacturer of proprietary vacuum equipment—evidenced by multiple sole-source awards and brand-name-only RFQs in the record—anchors its competitive moat and explains the absence of full-and-open competitive pressure on most awards. Equipment repair work (particularly for the Drug Enforcement Administration's GC-MS diaphragm pumps) and on-site training bundled with equipment sales complete the service envelope.