Quartus Engineering Incorporated

Quartus Engineering Incorporated, a San Diego-based small business subchapter S corporation, delivers advanced aerospace engineering, optical systems design, and space technology research to federal agencies as a prime contractor (80% of recent awards) and as a subcontractor on defense and space launch programs. The company competes predominantly in full-and-open procurements without set-aside designation, though it holds Total Small Business SBIR awards across multiple phases and agencies. Quartus specializes in structural analysis, space telescope technologies, autonomous systems, and spectral signature analysis for defense and civilian space missions.

Quartus's customer base concentrates heavily on NASA and Department of Defense research programs. The top five funding entities account for 67% of recent awards by count. NASA's Shared Services Center leads by volume (8 awards, $5.8 million combined potential value) and dollars, driven by a series of SBIR Phase I, II, and III contracts for deformable membrane telescope optical design, LIDAR-stereo fusion for lunar autonomy, and the DEMETER advanced research program ($3.88 million SBIR Phase III contract awarded September 2023). NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center contributes 3 awards ($2.7 million combined potential value) through two blanket purchase agreements for structural dynamics engineering and structural engineering support call orders ($2.0 million BPA awarded October 2023, $700 thousand BPA awarded January 2023). The Department of Navy's Office of Naval Research has placed 2 awards ($2.2 million combined potential value), including a $1.99 million cost-plus-fixed-fee R&D contract exercising options through April 2028 (awarded April 2024). The Department of the Air Force has awarded 5 awards across Space Command, Space and Missile Systems Center, and Materiel Command, including a $3.21 million definitive contract for spectral signature analysis in a space-like operational environment (awarded March 2026).

Quartus holds a position on the Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD) Multiple Award IDIQ, a $151 billion indefinite delivery vehicle awarded by the Missile Defense Agency on January 21, 2026, with a performance period extending through December 2035. The initial task order under SHIELD carried a $500 ceiling value (awarded January 2026). The company also places work under the One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services vehicle (5 task orders) and maintains access to a $700 thousand structural dynamics BPA through Armstrong Flight Research Center. Activity has averaged roughly three awards per year in recent periods — two in 2022, four in 2023, three in 2024, five in 2025, and three in 2026 year-to-date — with four awards (combined potential value $9.2 million) reaching ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months and therefore facing recompete exposure.

In its subcontractor capacity, Quartus performs space vehicle launch manifest systems integration services under Parsons Government Services Inc. across multiple recent awards (five sub-awards between December 2024 and September 2025). Across SCI-reportable federal service contracts captured between FY2022 and FY2024, the dataset shows minimal invoiced volume and roughly 2.4 to 3.1 FTEs delivered per year, reflecting Quartus's emphasis on research, development, and engineering work rather than time-and-materials service delivery above the SCI reporting threshold. The vendor's award portfolio centers on NAICS 541712 (Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences) and general science and technology R&D and professional engineering support PSC categories, with secondary exposure to defense research and space R&D services.

Quartus Engineering works with clients to help improve their products by:

Performing design, analysis, drafting, and testing services for production development ranging from conceptual design through production drawings