Picarro, Inc.

Picarro, Inc., a for-profit manufacturer of cavity ring-down spectrometers and trace gas analyzers based in Santa Clara, California, supplies high-precision analytical instrumentation to federal agencies as a prime contractor on full-and-open and total small business set-aside procurements, with 99% of recent awards in the prime position. The company does not hold SBA designations and competes across civilian science, environmental, and atmospheric research programs rather than defense or set-aside-reserved vehicles.

Picarro's federal footprint centers on precision gas concentration and stable isotope measurement systems. The company manufactures cavity ring-down spectrometers (CRDS models including G2301, G2311-F, G2311-FLUX, G2131-I, G2201-i, G2401, and G2401-M), trace gas analyzers for simultaneous measurement of carbon dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide, and water vapor, isotopic carbon analyzers, water isotope analyzers, ammonia analyzers, and ethylene oxide analyzers, along with repair, replacement-parts, and service-plan support for those instruments. Representative recent work includes a $1.135 million delivery order from NOAA (September 2024) for trace gas analyzers for near-simultaneous measurement of CO2, CH4, CO, and H2O, and possible repairs to existing and procured instruments; a $215,000 firm fixed-price purchase order from NOAA (August 2024) for improvements to a prototype greenhouse gas analyzer meeting Standard Type Certificate requirements for commercial aircraft; a $285,494 purchase order from EPA Region 7 (May 2024) for two Picarro PI2920 ethylene oxide gas concentration analyzers with peripherals and consumables for the STC Laboratory in Kansas City, Kansas; and a $134,614.75 sole-source purchase order from NASA Shared Services Center (May 2025) for a Picarro Ammonia Analyzer.

Picarro's customer concentration is acute and tied to a single anchor contract. NOAA dominates both award count and dollar value, accounting for 38 of 172 total awards (22% of the recent footprint) and $10.1 million of the $18.8 million combined potential value across all awards—54% of total dollars. The U.S. Geological Survey Office of Acquisitions and Grants ranks second with 31 awards and $2.1 million in combined potential value. The EPA Office of Research and Development, NIST, and NASA Shared Services Center round out the top five, together accounting for 59% of award count and 78% of combined potential value. The NOAA concentration is underwritten by a single-award indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract valued at $4.2 million (ultimately completing September 2028), awarded September 18, 2023, which carries five recorded task orders worth $2.7 million in combined potential value. Picarro also executes work under direct NOAA purchase orders and delivery orders issued independently of the IDIQ.

Activity has trended upward from four awards in 2022 to eleven in 2025, with six awards in the first three months of 2026. Only four awards (combined potential value $244 thousand) reach ultimate completion inside the next twenty-four months, presenting minimal recompete exposure in the near term. NOAA's $4.2 million IDIQ does not expire until September 2028, locking in substantial revenue runway from the largest customer. Across 172 prime awards, Picarro records a single subcontract sub-award, dated January 2026, for high-precision greenhouse gas concentration analyzer engineering and scientific products and technical services to NASA's Johnson Space Flight Center Engineering and Exploration Integration and Science Directorates. The company's work is predominantly performed in Santa Clara, California, though some orders route to customer facilities (NOAA Boulder facility, EPA Kansas City laboratory, USDA Davis facility, Forest Service Howland Experimental Forest in Maine, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, and FDA Pacific Northwest Laboratory). Across category concentration, 127 of 172 awards map to NAICS 334516 (Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing), with the remainder in related repair and measurement-device manufacturing codes. PSC coding reflects laboratory equipment supply (67 awards), chemical analysis instruments (22 awards), and maintenance and repair of lab equipment (14 awards).