Research Planning, Inc.

Research Planning, Inc., a women-owned small business headquartered in Columbia, South Carolina, delivers environmental sensitivity mapping, oil spill response support, emergency response coordination, and spatial analytics to federal civilian agencies as a prime contractor (98% of recent awards) on NOAA-dominated contract vehicles. The company is an SBA-certified Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) competing predominantly under woman-owned small business set-asides on GSA schedules and single-award BPAs.

Customer concentration is extreme and deliberate. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration accounts for 205 awards and $3.1 billion combined potential value — 98% of RPI's total federal footprint — placing the vendor as a specialized provider of environmental response and coastal resource management services. The Department of the Treasury, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration round out the active set with combined potential value under $25 million. This concentration reflects RPI's core positioning in oil and chemical hazard response, environmental sensitivity index mapping, and marine debris compliance, all mission-critical to NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration.

RPI's vehicle position centers on NOAA-dominated platforms. The company holds a $9 million woman-owned small business set-aside BPA with NOAA's National Ocean Service Office of Response and Restoration (August 1, 2023 through July 31, 2028) under the GSA Multiple Award Schedule, with multiple call orders issued in 2023–2026 for environmental sensitivity index datasets, uncrewed aircraft systems pilot training, marine debris environmental compliance support, and freshwater oil spill response guide development. RPI also holds a single-award $4.99 million IDIQ with NOAA for Oil and Renewable Resources Chemical Hazard Response operations (January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2030), structured to provide 24/7 on-call scientific and technical support with one-hour initial contact response and two-hour assessment delivery requirements. A $1.77 million Treasury BPA for subject matter expert review services on Gulf Coast restoration projects (March 29, 2023 through March 28, 2028) and a Treasury RESTORE Act delivery order ($170,083) round out the IDV portfolio. Across the GSA Multiple Award Schedule and The Professional Services Schedule, RPI places 199 task orders (combined potential value $72.2 million). The NOAA ProTech Services Solution IDIQ accounts for 7 task orders carrying $31 million in combined potential value, including a $21.6 million delivery order for business and scientific support services (December 21, 2023 through December 20, 2028, Total Small Business set-aside) and prior Environmental Sensitivity Index map work for Lake Michigan ($784,912), Lake Erie ($320,630), and Lake Ontario ($248,470).

Recent representative work spans multiple NOAA call orders awarded in 2026: Environmental Sensitivity Index updates for Southeast Alaska ($1,047,755), data mapping for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands ($602,378), environmental sensitivity mapping for the North Slope of Alaska ($579,127), and environmental compliance work ($949,319), all as woman-owned small business set-asides under the MAS. RPI also delivers oil spill response software and SCAT training to the U.S. Coast Guard — a mobile application development contract for aerial observations and SCAT in freshwater and ice environments ($77,480, January 2026 completion), SCAT training ($21,000, April 2026), and oil spill response software for multi-agency GRS exercises ($30,854, July 2026 completion). The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management placed a $299,809 delivery order for benthic recovery estimates (September 2024 through February 2027) and a $228,218 order for offshore wind farm chemical support (June 2023–June 2025). The Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration awarded a $295,000 delivery order for Ecological Unusually Sensitive Area data updates (January 2024 through January 2028, Total Small Business set-aside).

Activity has contracted in recent years — 14 awards in 2022 declining to 5 in 2025 — though 12 awards in 2026 suggest renewed pipeline momentum. Ten awards (combined potential value $2.7 million) reach ultimate completion inside the next twenty-four months and face recompete. RPI operates as a prime on 289 of 296 awards (98%); subcontractor exposure is minimal. The vendor subcontracts to Industrial Economics Inc. on NOAA-funded natural resource damage assessments (NRDA) and seagrass restoration work, and holds sub-grant positions with the University System of New Hampshire on research awards.

Service Contract Inventory data show SCI-reportable invoicing of $1.8 million across FY2022–FY2024 (FY2022: $970 thousand across 3.7 FTEs; FY2023: $852 thousand across 2.6 FTEs; FY2024: zero reported, likely due to threshold reporting limits on smaller call orders). Across SCI prime contracts, the vendor self-performed 96% of labor, with an average sub-hours share of 4% and a single named subcontractor appearing in the dataset. Government-paid hourly rates on SCI work ranged from a 10th percentile of $112.13/hr to a 90th percentile of $171.14/hr, with a median of $133.59/hr. GSA Schedule labor offerings span 30 categories from $72.07/hr (Staff Computer Scientist with bachelor's, no clearance) to $315.49/hr (Senior Analyst with master's, 7 years experience), covering aquatic ecologists, GIS analysts, systems analysts, senior scientists, and principal investigators — none requiring security clearance. RPI operates a single subsidiary, Rpi-Css, LLC (joint venture woman-owned small business). The vendor's federal footprint reflects a tightly specialized, NOAA-dependent positioning in coastal environmental emergency response and environmental compliance — a high-value niche with limited diversification risk and significant recompete dependency on NOAA contract vehicle renewals.

We specialize in multi-disciplinary, applied technology, in environmental mapping and assessment, field studies, and emergency response. We have extensive international experience. We have many long-term contracts with government agencies (>25 years)