Quartus Engineering Incorporated

Quartus Engineering Incorporated, doing business as Quartus Engineering Inc., is a San Diego-based small business subchapter S corporation that delivers advanced aerospace engineering, optical systems design, and space technology research to federal agencies predominantly as a prime contractor (81% of recent awards) competing in full-and-open procurements on SBIR vehicles and other research programs. The company competes primarily under the Total Small Business set-aside category across its SBIR portfolio, though it also holds full-and-open awards from defense and civilian space agencies.

Quartus Engineering's capability portfolio centers on aerospace structures and optical systems development for space missions, with named work spanning deformable membrane telescope optical design and wavefront correction, LIDAR-stereo fusion technology for lunar autonomy, spectral signature analysis for space-like environments, sparse aperture telescope design and fabrication, and structural dynamics engineering and ground test support. Representative prime awards include a $3.526 million Total Small Business SBIR Phase III definitive contract from NASA's Shared Services Center for FY26 SAGE IV IR Telescope development (ultimate completion March 24, 2029), a $3.88 million DEMETER SBIR Phase III award from NASA for advanced space telescope research (completed April 2, 2027), a $3.21 million Department of the Air Force definitive contract for spectral signature analysis (completed September 9, 2026), and a $1.99 million Office of Naval Research definitive contract for research and development (extended through April 30, 2028, cost-plus-fixed-fee structure).

Customer concentration is heavily weighted to NASA civilian entities. The top five funding agencies account for 68% of awards by count and 98% of combined potential value. NASA's Shared Services Center dominates the portfolio with 9 awards worth $9.3 million combined potential value, followed by the Department of the Air Force ($3.2 million on one award), NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center (3 awards, $2.7 million), the Office of Naval Research (2 awards, $2.2 million), and the Air Force Materiel Command Research Laboratory (2 awards, $200 thousand). Quartus Engineering has established itself as a recurring SBIR awardee, with multiple Phase I, Phase II, and Phase III awards from NASA concentrated in space telescope and lunar autonomy technologies.

Quartus Engineering holds a position on two significant IDV vehicles. The Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD) IDIQ, awarded January 21, 2026, carries a $151 billion ceiling and performance period through December 28, 2035 under a full-and-open competition to the Missile Defense Agency; the initial task order carries a five hundred dollar ceiling with performance at Huntsville, Alabama. Quartus also holds two Blanket Purchase Agreements with NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center — one valued at $2.0 million (awarded October 10, 2023, ultimate completion October 9, 2028) and another at $700 thousand (awarded January 17, 2023, ultimate completion January 16, 2028) — both providing structural engineering support services, finite element modeling, ground and flight test analysis, and materials testing for aeronautical research and development initiatives. A third vehicle appears in the parent vehicles list: One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services, carrying 5 task orders.

Activity has remained modest but steady — two awards in 2022, four in 2023, three in 2024, five in 2025, and four in 2026 — with combined potential value across all prime and sub awards totaling $18 million. Four awards carrying combined potential value of $6.1 million reach ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months and thus face recompete exposure. Obligated dollars ($21.4 million) exceed combined potential value by 19%, reflecting prior-year invoicing on extended contracts.

In its subcontractor role, Quartus Engineering performs space vehicle launch manifest systems integration and manifesting services to Parsons Government Services Inc. across five sub-awards (May through September 2025) in support of multiple launch and launch-processing locations within the continental United States. The company's Service Contract Inventory activity shows minimal SCI-reportable invoiced revenue across FY2022–FY2025, with reported FTE delivery ranging between 0 and 3.1 FTEs per fiscal year on SCI-reportable prime and sub contracts, reflecting the company's concentration in SBIR research awards (which often carry lower labor intensity than service-delivery contracts) and classified work not captured in SCI.

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