Research Support Instruments, Inc.

Research Support Instruments, Inc. (doing business as R S I) operates as a prime contractor on defense research and development contracts issued by the Department of Defense and NASA, with 98% of recent awards placed as prime (88 of 90) rather than as a subcontractor. The vendor is a child entity of Miller Engineering & Research Corp, a women-owned small business certified as a small disadvantaged business and EDWOSB. R S I was awarded a position on the Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD) multiple-award IDIQ by the Missile Defense Agency on December 29, 2025, with a ceiling value of $151 billion and performance extending through December 28, 2035; the initial delivery order, valued at $500 under firm fixed price terms, was awarded the same date with performance at Huntsville, Alabama.

The SHIELD IDIQ is structured to procure an advanced, multi-domain defense system capable of detecting, tracking, intercepting, and neutralizing air, missile, space, cyber, and hybrid threats across all phases of flight. The contract encompasses research and development, prototyping, disruptive technologies, systems engineering, weapon design, production, test and evaluation, cybersecurity, and modernization efforts. Individual task orders will leverage artificial intelligence, machine learning, digital engineering, and open systems architectures to support both classified and unclassified programs at different security clearance levels.

Customer concentration sits with the Department of the Air Force (28 awards) and the Department of the Navy (22 awards), accounting for 90% of recent awards. The Department of the Navy Naval Observatory (10 awards, $1.3 million combined potential value) and NASA (18 awards, $351 thousand combined potential value) represent the majority of identified dollars. The vendor also holds positions on three Navy IDIQs: Indefinite Delivery Contract F1962879C0044 (6 task orders), Indefinite Delivery Contract N0001485C2362 (4 task orders), and Indefinite Delivery Contract N0001485C2433 (2 task orders).

Award activity is sparse and non-linear — two awards in 2018, one in 2020, one in 2021, one in 2024, and two in 2025 — reflecting a long-standing but low-volume prime contracting footprint dating to 1980. Combined potential value across all awards totals $1.7 million, though combined dollars obligated reach $24.8 million, indicating prior obligations that have since completed. The vendor's work clusters in research and development services (5 awards under NAICS 541711) and general science and technology R&D services (17 awards under PSC code B.6.1.1), with subordinate activity in space R&D, advanced development, and electronic components. As a subcontractor, R S I delivered research and development support to the U.S. Naval Research Lab under a prime award to KBR Wyle Services, LLC (doing business as Merc Aerospace) on September 2, 2024, supporting operational access to critical space capabilities. Service Contract Inventory data shows minimal federal services-contract activity: 1.6 FTEs reported under a single SCI record in FY2024 as a named subcontractor, reflecting a profile centered on research and development delivery rather than federal services labor.