Research Planning, Inc.

Research Planning, Inc., a Columbia, South Carolina-based women-owned small business, supplies environmental sensitivity mapping, oil spill response support, emergency response coordination, and ecological assessment services to federal agencies as a prime contractor (98% of recent awards) on GSA Multiple Award Schedule and indefinite delivery vehicles. The vendor operates with SBA WOSB certification and competes predominantly under woman-owned small business set-asides on its largest vehicles, though it also accepts competitive full-and-open task orders.

NOAA dominates RPI's customer base by a decisive margin. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration accounts for 207 of RPI's 300 total awards (82% of award count) and $3.1 billion of the combined $3.15 billion potential value across the entire portfolio—a concentration so extreme that it places RPI squarely as a NOAA specialist rather than a diversified federal contractor. The Department of the Treasury's Departmental Offices ranks second with 11 awards ($16.7 million potential value), followed by the Coast Guard (10 awards, $459 thousand), the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (9 awards, $2.9 million), and the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (8 awards, $4.3 million). The top five customer agencies account for 82% of recent awards; NOAA alone represents the totality of the meaningful dollar value.

RPI's work sits primarily on GSA Multiple Award Schedule vehicles (136 task orders, $55.2 million combined potential value) and The Professional Services Schedule (67 task orders, $19.4 million). The vendor holds a dominant position on the NOAA ProTech Services Solution IDIQ (7 task orders, $31 million combined potential value), a single-award indefinite delivery contract through which NOAA procures scientific and technical support. Representative prime work includes a $21.6 million delivery order under PROTECH awarded December 21, 2023, for business and scientific support services (set aside Total Small Business, time and materials pricing, performance through December 20, 2028); a $4.99 million single-award IDIQ established January 1, 2026, for Oil and Renewable Resources chemical hazard response operations requiring 24/7 on-call response with one-hour contact and two-hour assessment delivery commitments; and a $9 million woman-owned small business BPA with NOAA's National Ocean Service Office of Response and Restoration established August 1, 2023, through July 31, 2028, under the Multiple Award Schedule covering environmental sensitivity mapping, uncrewed aircraft systems training, and emergency response services. Call orders against the $9 million BPA include a $1.73 million order for emergency response support (August 15, 2023), a $250.3 thousand order for Environmental Sensitivity Index datasets and mapping tools (September 15, 2023), a $110.1 thousand order for UAS pilot training for oil spill response (September 1, 2024), a $124.8 thousand order for freshwater oil spill response guide development (September 6, 2024), a $449.98 thousand order for marine debris environmental compliance support (August 2, 2024), and orders in 2026 for data mapping in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands ($602.4 thousand), Environmental Sensitivity Index updates for Southeast Alaska ($1.048 million), environmental sensitivity work for the North Slope of Alaska ($579.1 thousand), and environmental compliance services ($949.3 thousand).

RPI's work categories cluster tightly around environmental specialization. The top NAICS is Environmental Consulting Services (182 awards), followed by remediation services and all other professional, scientific, and technical services. The top PSC is Other Environmental Services (125 awards) and Special Studies/Analysis — Environmental Assessments (82 awards), with minor presence in expert witness services and program management support.

RPI operates as a pure prime contractor across its federal footprint. Prime awards account for 98% of recent activity; sub-awards number only 7 (2%). Across SCI-reportable service contracts, RPI performs substantially all work in-house — the average sub-hours share on prime contracts stands at 5%, indicating minimal subcontractor reliance. When RPI does subcontract, it routes work through Industrial Economics Inc. for natural resource damage assessment and marine sanctuary restoration work related to NOAA oil spill and habitat projects. The vendor maintains a subsidiary, Rpi-Css LLC, a joint venture women-owned small business.

SCI-reported invoiced revenue on federal service contracts above the $150,000 threshold totaled $5.5 million across FY2022–FY2025 (prime records). Activity was sparse in FY2022–FY2024 ($970 thousand, $852 thousand, and zero respectively) but spiked in FY2025 to $3.6 million across 18.5 FTEs. On GSA Schedule labor categories, RPI offers 30 distinct roles at rates spanning $72.07/hr to $315.49/hr, with no security-cleared positions. Representative categories include Staff Computer Scientist ($72.07/hr, bachelor's), Project Aquatic & Fishery Ecologist ($101.51/hr, master's), Senior GIS Analyst ($118.60/hr, bachelor's), Principal Investigator ($245.38/hr, master's), and Senior Analyst ($315.49/hr, master's). Government-paid hourly rates on SCI records ran a median of $133.12/hr, with a 10th percentile at $99.47/hr and 90th percentile at $170.83/hr. This spectrum reflects RPI's positioning as an environmental and scientific consulting firm rather than a labor-category staffing vendor.

Recent activity shows growth: 16 awards in 2026 (as of mid-September), compared to 14 in 2022, 13 in 2023, 8 in 2024, and 5 in 2025. Sixteen awards (combined potential value $7.9 million) face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months and present recompete exposure. The vendor's $3.1 billion NOAA ceiling carries inherent concentration risk — NOAA represents both RPI's entire meaningful customer base and its sole material recompete risk at scale.

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)