Scientific Applications & Research Associates, Inc.

Scientific Applications & Research Associates, Inc. (Apta Division), a for-profit Subchapter S corporation headquartered in Cypress, California, delivers advanced research, development, testing, and evaluation services across radio frequency, electromagnetic pulse, pulsed power, acoustics, threat warning systems, and autonomous technologies to the Department of Defense, NASA, and federal agencies as a prime contractor on 94% of recent awards. SARA competes predominantly on full-and-open (non-set-aside) procurements, though it frequently participates in Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs where work carries total small business set-aside designations.

SARA's customer concentration is heavily weighted toward Air Force and defense R&D customers. The top five funding entities by award count account for 47% of recent awards: the Department of the Air Force Materiel Command Research Laboratory leads with 42 awards ($176.6 million combined potential value), followed by the Department of the Army (27 awards), the Department of the Air Force (22 awards), the Office of Naval Research (20 awards, $17.2 million combined potential value), and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (17 awards, $2.5 million combined potential value). However, the potential-value ranking shifts dramatically: AFLCMC's Eglin AFB holds a $46 billion Eglin Wide Agile Acquisition Contract (EWAAC) fourth on-ramp (3 awards), the Naval Sea Systems Command carries $3.96 billion across 15 awards, and AFLCMC's Robins AFB accounts for $39.3 million across 4 awards. Recent prime work includes a $27 million cost-plus-fixed-fee definitive contract with the Air Force Logistics Complex for the Home on GPS Jam (HOGJ) program (awarded May 2024), a $4.7 million cost-plus-fixed-fee AFRL contract for high-power sources and electromagnetic field-material interaction research (awarded February 2025), and a $3.03 million delivery order from AFLCMC Robins for PLZT Goggles Modernization (awarded July 2025).

SARA holds four named parent indefinite-delivery vehicles: the $46 billion Eglin Wide Agile Acquisition Contract (EWAAC) with AFLCMC Eglin (multiple award, through September 2031, with initial task order of $1,000 issued April 2025); a $31.9 million single-award IDV with AFLCMC Robins focused on Nuclear Flash Blindness and PLZT Goggles Modernization (through July 2029); a $15 million multiple-award IDV with NASA Ames Research Center (through September 2028); and a $2.49 million Other Transaction IDV with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency for the SABLE Phase I program (awarded April 2023). SARA also recently received awards under the Golden Hoard Colosseum R&D vehicle ($6.83 million delivery order, August 2023) and participates in SBIR/STTR vehicles across the Air Force Research Laboratory, Office of Naval Research, and Army Research Development and Engineering Command. The company demonstrates consistent activity across SBIR Phase I, II, and Direct-to-Phase-II awards, as well as STTR Phase II and III efforts, reflecting a sustained small-business research program footprint.

Activity has grown year over year from five awards in 2022 to fifteen in 2025, with the portfolio now spanning 273 total awards (prime and sub combined) valued at $50.31 billion in combined potential value. Ten awards with ultimate completion dates in the next twenty-four months carry $45.2 million in combined potential value and face recompete exposure. The vendor's NAICS profile centers on Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (58 awards in the primary category, 50 in a closely related variant), with secondary work in Engineering Services (30 awards) and Search, Detection, Navigation, Guidance, Aeronautical, and Nautical System and Instrument Manufacturing (8 awards); PSC codes reflect R&D-heavy work across Defense Other (Applied and Basic Research tiers), National Defense R&D Services, and Electronics/Communications Equipment development.

In its subcontractor role, SARA performs electromagnetic pulse advanced testing and technical assistance for system vulnerabilities under Leidos prime contracts (multiple task orders, 2024–2025), electromagnetic advanced testing and design support under Northrop Grumman for B-2 hardware sustaining engineering (2025), and personnel-protection optics research under BlueHalo (2024). Additional subs include work with Caci Inc. Federal on mission sustainment interoperability support (April 2026), Booz Allen Hamilton on information assurance lifecycle management (April 2026), American Electronic Warfare Associates on investment support (August 2025), and Amentum Services on Navy expeditionary forces regional service closure (April 2025). Across these engagements, SARA delivers specialized electromagnetic, RF, and optical-system engineering services to larger prime contractors.

Service Contract Inventory data captures minimal activity: $465 thousand in invoiced revenue in FY2023 across 0.9 FTEs on 11 SCI-reportable prime records spanning FY2022–FY2024. SCI government-paid hourly rates on prime contracts ranged from $210.86/hr (10th percentile) to $313.06/hr (90th percentile), with a median of $247.76/hr. SARA subcontracted 0% of total hours on SCI-reportable prime contracts, indicating that the vendor builds its own delivery teams on captured service work rather than relying on sub-engagement for staffing. The minimal SCI footprint reflects SARA's concentration on R&D and indefinite-delivery vehicles, which frequently fall outside SCI reporting thresholds or are classified; SCI figures represent a narrow slice of the vendor's total federal revenue.

SARA, Inc. has extensive experience with the high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP), electromagnetic environmental effects (E3), and electromagnetic interference (EMI) military standards and handbooks across a range of platforms (ground, airborne, and maritime). SARA provides direct support to DTRA in testing and in development of standards for fixed facilities, ships, and aircraft. These standards and specifications provide the HEMP protected performance criteria which the protected systems are expected to meet. Assessment of low-risk, high-confidence HEMP survivability, based on testing, documentation of hardening, and inspections is described for ground-based systems in MIL-STD-188-125-1 (fixed facility) and MIL-STD-188-125-2 (transportable systems). In addition, SARA possesses design and test experience in HEMP survivability of airborne assets ranging from the 1970's to the most modern aircraft, the B2, and strategic EW related aircraft.