PP Systems International, LLC

PP Systems International, LLC, a woman-owned small business based in Amesbury, Massachusetts, manufactures and sells specialized environmental and agricultural scientific instrumentation to federal research agencies as a prime contractor. The vendor operates as a limited liability company with a recurring posture of total small business set-asides, holding 150 prime purchase orders across federal agencies with combined potential value of $3.6 million; all potential value has been obligated.

PP Systems manufactures portable photosynthesis systems, CO2 gas analyzers, submersible spectrophotometers and fluorometers, algal bloom probes, and weather stations — precision instruments for water quality, chlorophyll content, gas exchange, and ecosystem monitoring. Recent representative work includes a $56,765 total small business set-aside delivery order from the U.S. Geological Survey for a bbe PhycoProbe 3 laboratory instrument measuring chlorophyll, algae, and cyanobacteria (awarded July 31, 2025; delivered to the Kansas Water Science Center); a $221,115.50 sole-source purchase order from USGS for algal bloom probes supporting the Virginia Water Science Center (awarded May 17, 2023); a $51,043.75 total small business award from USDA Agricultural Research Service for a portable photosynthesis system serving Madison, Wisconsin research operations (awarded September 27, 2023); and a $43,652 Environmental Protection Agency Office of Research and Development award for a BI-FLUOROPROBE instrument (awarded April 2, 2024, no set-aside). A $52,504 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers purchase order for a CIRAS-4 gas exchange system (awarded September 22, 2023, no set-aside) represents exposure to defense research customers outside the vendor's core civilian agency base.

The vendor's customer base concentrates heavily in civilian environmental and agricultural research. The top five funding offices account for 39% of awards by count and 64% of combined potential value: the U.S. Geological Survey Office of Acquisitions and Grants leads with 17 awards totaling $783 thousand; the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration follows with 15 awards totaling $456 thousand; and the USDA Agricultural Research Service Northeast Area, EPA Office of Research and Development, and USDA Forest Service Research Station round out the active set. The Army Materiel Command Research Development and Engineering Command anchors the largest single-source dollar concentration outside civilian agencies with two awards totaling $633 thousand. Primary NAICS codes are 334516 (Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing) covering 131 awards, and 334519 (Other Measuring and Controlling Device Manufacturing) covering eight awards, with Laboratory Equipment and Supplies (PSC) as the dominant procurement category across 79 awards.

Activity has declined materially — five awards in 2022 and 2023, three in 2024, two in 2025, and one in 2026 — indicating tightening federal procurement velocity or narrowing addressable market. Only one award with combined potential value of $16 thousand faces ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, presenting minimal recompete-cliff exposure. The vendor operates 100% as a prime contractor with no subcontract footprint. All 150 awards are purchase orders rather than task orders on standing vehicles or IDIQs, placing the vendor in direct-quote competition for each individual instrument need rather than sitting on preferred-vendor or blanket-order arrangements. The most recent award, a $16,177 purchase order from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for calibration and service of four submersible spectrophotometers (awarded April 22, 2026; performance in Amesbury with completion April 15, 2027), reflects the vendor's service-and-maintenance footprint alongside new-instrument sales.