Schwarz Forensic Enterprises, Inc.

Schwarz Forensic Enterprises, Inc., a self-certified small disadvantaged business headquartered in Winterset, Iowa, delivers specialized latent fingerprint analysis, feature extraction, quality assessment, and forensic examiner support services exclusively to the National Institute of Standards and Technology as a prime contractor. The firm operates entirely in the full-and-open market without set-aside pursuit; across its recent award footprint, 15 of 21 awards (100% of combined potential value, $2.2 million) flow from NIST, with the remaining six awards ($25 thousand combined potential value) sourced from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Headquarters Division for forensic equipment maintenance and performance validation services.

Schwarz Forensic Enterprises' capability portfolio concentrates on friction ridge and latent fingerprint research support, anchored in NIST's Evaluation of Latent Friction Ridge Technology (ELFT) program. Representative prime work includes a $200 thousand firm fixed-price purchase order awarded by NIST on September 30, 2026, for latent fingerprint ground truth determination support services with performance in Winterset, Iowa and completion by September 29, 2027; a $150 thousand sole-source purchase order from September 16, 2024, for certified latent print examiner support including sequestered examiner palm quality assessment and feature extraction (running through September 30, 2026); and a $218.5 thousand purchase order from October 1, 2023, for sequestered examiner latent fingerprint quality assessment and ABIS-direct feature extraction (completion December 31, 2025). The company was identified as sole source on the September 2024 award based on exclusive access to physical items and digitized latent fingerprints sourced from the IARPA Nail to Nail Challenge. Additional NIST work includes feature extraction and matching support services, quality maps for Special Database 302 latent fingerprint images, and latent friction ridge impression coordinate support services. The FBI component of the portfolio consists of routine maintenance and performance checks of cyanoacrylate fuming chambers at the agency's forensic facilities.

Activity remains sparse and concentrated: two awards in 2021, three in 2022, four in 2023, one in 2024, and one in 2026. One award, the September 2026 purchase order for $200 thousand, reaches ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months and faces recompete risk. The firm carries no active GWAC or BPA seats and operates as a prime contractor only, with no subcontract engagement in the visible award record. Customer concentration is absolute — NIST accounts for all material revenue opportunity and represents the firm's sole strategic customer.