Proto Productions Inc.

Proto Productions Inc., a veteran-owned small business based in Addison, Illinois, manufactures custom museum-quality display cases and artifact exhibits for federal agencies, operating exclusively as a prime contractor under Total Small Business set-asides. The company holds Subchapter S corporate structure and competes in a narrow, specialized procurement lane — showcase and partition manufacturing under primary NAICS 541512 (Showcase, Partition, Shelving, and Locker Manufacturing) — where 28 of its 39 recent prime awards fall.

Proto's customer base spans 23 federal agencies, but concentration is pronounced. The Department of the Army accounts for 7 awards worth $991 thousand in combined potential value, anchoring 41% of award count and 71% of recent potential-value dollars across the top five customers. The Department of the Air Force Air Mobility Command places 4 orders (combined potential value $252 thousand), and the Department of the Interior National Park Service operates as a recurring customer across multiple regional offices, each placing smaller orders. The company draws work from Interior's Southeast Region ($94 thousand), Intermountain Region ($115 thousand), and Alaska Region, indicating geographic diversification within a single agency customer. Additional federal customers include the Department of Veterans Affairs, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Bureau of Land Management, and the Bureau of Reclamation. Proto describes itself as having twenty years of prior federal work across these agencies.

Award activity has remained flat to declining over the past five years — five awards in 2021, five in 2022, four in 2023, one in 2024, and two in 2026 — yielding a combined potential value of $2.2 million across the portfolio. Two awards with ultimate completion in the next twenty-four months carry combined potential value of $324 thousand and face recompete risk. Recent representative work includes a $179,892 Total Small Business purchase order from the Department of the Army for museum display cases (awarded April 2026, ultimate completion November 2026), a $143,775 Army order for museum-quality exhibit cases and artifact displays (awarded July 2026, ultimate completion January 2027), and a $59,622 firm fixed-price purchase order from the Department of Veterans Affairs VISN 15 for veteran display cabinets (awarded October 2024, completed September 2025). The vendor operates with no parent contract vehicles, seats on GWACs, or BPAs in its award record; all work flows through direct purchase orders. Proto maintains no disclosed subcontractor relationships and operates at 100% prime contractor posture, indicating a small, focused operation with limited teaming footprint.

Fabricator of museum quality exhibits, including display cases, interpretive displays, interactives, and conversation cases. Client list includes federal, state, and local government agencies as well as museums, libraries and other institutions.