Physical Sciences Inc.

Physical Sciences Inc., a for-profit research and development company headquartered in Andover, Massachusetts, supplies advanced materials, optical systems, radiation detection technologies, and specialized instrumentation to the federal government as a prime contractor on 2,102 awards (99% of recent activity) across defense, civilian, and research agencies. The company competes predominantly under total small business set-asides across SBIR, STTR, and other dedicated small-business vehicles rather than full-and-open competition, reflecting its posture as a small business innovator across federal agencies.

Physical Sciences Inc. operates a portfolio spanning ceramic matrix composites, hypersonic propulsion systems, photonic and optical technologies, infrared sensing and detection, advanced energy storage, bioprocess instrumentation, and specialized materials development. Concrete representative work includes a $2.0 million DARPA Phase II SBIR for rib-stiffened ceramic matrix composite panels (awarded August 2025), a $3.1 million Air Force Research Laboratory Phase II SBIR for braided ultra-high temperature ceramic matrix composites for scramjet isolators (awarded July 2025), and a $1.986 million Naval Sea Systems Command Phase II SBIR for smart exhaust waste heat recovery units supporting the Space Based Infrared System High major defense acquisition program (awarded March 2026). The company also holds significant civilian research grants: a $3.5 million National Institutes of Health contract for in-line cytometry process analytical technology for biomanufacturing (February 2026) and multiple Department of Energy Office of Science project grants totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars for thermal energy storage, carbon capture, and optical sensing research (FY2023–2024).

Customer concentration is pronounced and defense-heavy. The top five customer agencies account for 43% of awards by count. Naval Sea Systems Command anchors the potential-value ranking with 84 awards worth $1.04 billion combined potential value, driven by extensive participation in the Space Based Infrared System High MDAP; Air Force Research Laboratory holds 222 awards worth $121.5 million; and the Army Materiel Command Research Development and Engineering Command carries 126 awards worth $73.5 million. The Air Force (including AFRL and Air Materiel Command) dominates by count, while Navy programs (particularly SBIRS High work) dominate by dollar value. Civilian agencies including the National Institutes of Health, Department of Energy, and NASA represent a secondary but recurring funding stream.

Physical Sciences Inc. sits on a $982.1 million Naval Sea Systems Command multiple-award indefinite delivery contract for the Unmanned Surface Vehicle Family of Systems (awarded June 2024, running through April 2029), positioning the company as a critical supplier for Navy unmanned maritime R&D. The vendor also holds multiple Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Other Transaction IDVs: $6.0 million for Process Intensified Energetics (awarded October 2024), $4.8 million for Large-Area Photocathodes (awarded June 2025), and $504,671 for HEIMDALL Development Phase (awarded January 2025). These vehicles enable rapid-cycle task order issuance for emerging defense technology initiatives without traditional procurement constraints. Task orders under Air Force, Army, and Navy indefinite delivery contracts drive recurring revenue; the vendor issued 12 task orders under IDIQ F1962884C0057 and 12 under IDIQ N6833503D0099 (worth $25.2 million combined potential value).

Activity has remained stable year over year: 89 awards in 2022, 75 in 2023, 99 in 2024, 87 in 2025, and 9 in the first five months of 2026. Seventy-seven awards (combined potential value $110.9 million) reach ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months and therefore face recompete exposure. The vendor's SBIR/STTR cadence is consistent across agencies—Phase I awards in the $150,000–$250,000 range serve as pipeline feeders to Phase II awards in the $1.0 million–$2.0 million range—suggesting sustainable access to competitive small-business innovation vehicles.

On federal service contracts captured in the Service Contract Inventory, Physical Sciences Inc. reported $15.5 million in invoiced revenue across FY2022–FY2024 (FY2024: $6.7 million across 12.3 FTEs; FY2023: $6.3 million across 11.0 FTEs; FY2022: $2.5 million across 5.7 FTEs). SCI-reported median government-paid rates ran around $236/hr, with senior labor pricing reaching $717/hr and entry-level work at $123/hr. The vendor self-performed all SCI-reportable hours; subcontractor engagement on SCI-reportable prime contracts was negligible (0% sub-hours share). Physical Sciences Inc. functions primarily as a prime developer building its own technical teams rather than as a subcontractor feeder to larger integrators, though the vendor does subcontract to major primes on select efforts: Raytheon Company (Barracuda development and Manufacturing Advances in the Scaling of Thin Electro-Optic Resources for Making Integrated Niobate Devices [MASTERMIND], both 2025–2026), Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation (Speed with Innovative Flowpath Technology [SWIFT] R&D, 2025), Peraton Inc. (SESPD II advanced space research, December 2025), and Parsons Government Services International Inc. (counter-nuclear-smuggling-system deployment support, December 2025).

Corporate structure includes four named subsidiaries: Q-Peak, Incorporated; Faraday Technology, Inc.; Research Support Instruments, Inc.; and Maxion Technologies, Inc.—all for-profit organizations, with three designated as manufacturers of goods. These subsidiaries suggest expansion into specialized product lines (optics, instrumentation, materials manufacturing) but do not override the parent company's core identity as an R&D services vendor.

EXPERIMENTAL & ANALYTICAL RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT,CHEMICAL SCIENCES,OPTICAL SCIENCES,SPACE SCIENCES,AEROMECHANICS,ELECTROMAGNETICS,OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY,MATERIAL TECH.,LASER TECH.,ENERGY & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE,FLOW DIAGNOSTICS,LASER INTERACTIONS,FIBEROPTICS,