Spec-Built Systems, Inc.

Spec-Built Systems, Inc., a San Diego-based for-profit Subchapter S corporation and small business manufacturer, delivers custom-engineered shipboard furniture, modular berthing systems, and fabricated structural metal components to the U.S. Navy, Coast Guard, and other defense maritime agencies as a prime contractor on over 99% of its federal awards. The company competes predominantly under total small business set-asides and holds no SBA 8(a) or HUBZone designations; recent awards split between set-aside and unrestricted (full-and-open) procurements based on customer agency sourcing posture.

Spec-Built's customer concentration is overwhelming and single-agency. The Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) represents 387 awards and $86.9 million in combined potential value — approximately 76% of total dollars across the vendor's footprint — while the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Land and Maritime and the Coast Guard contribute 123 and 61 awards respectively with materially smaller potentials. NAVSEA's dominance reflects Spec-Built's role as the incumbent OEM and prime supplier for Navy shipboard habitability upgrades. The top five funding agencies account for 86% of award count and 93% of combined potential value, with no material diversification outside maritime defense.

Spec-Built's primary vehicle positions anchor NAVSEA delivery work. An Indefinite Delivery Contract (N0018908D0076) carries 98 task orders with $1.1 million combined potential value; a multi-year Navy Modular Berthing Units IDC generated 77 task orders totaling $5.6 million; and contract N0018909D0052 carries 67 task orders for $4.3 million. A recently awarded single-award IDC with NAVSEA, effective September 15, 2024, carries a $4.99 million ceiling through September 2029 for stainless steel bulkhead material supporting the NAVSEA Shipboard Habitability Improvement Program. Representative prime work includes a $759 thousand delivery order for lightweight modular berths on the USS WASP (LHD-1), a $710 thousand order for USS KEARSARGE modular berthing, a $472 thousand definitive contract for Berth Type II lockers, and numerous smaller delivery orders ($18,810 to $356,767) for ship-specific berthing systems, bulkhead material, lockers, lavatory units, and crew furniture across destroyers, amphibious transports, and other naval vessels.

Award activity peaked in 2024 with 41 prime contracts, declining to 33 in 2025 and 9 through April 2026 year-to-date. Over the past five years (2022–2026), Spec-Built averaged approximately 22 awards annually with combined potential value of $114.3 million and $84.6 million obligated. The vendor's capability footprint centers on fabricated structural metal manufacturing (206 awards), sheet metal work manufacturing (265 awards), and metal institutional furniture manufacturing (118 awards), with PSC concentration in miscellaneous ship and marine equipment (408 awards) and marine hardware and hull items (171 awards). Spec-Built operates as a subcontractor on rare occasions — nine sub-awards on record, all recent (2024–2025) — partnering with primes Delphinus Engineering and Valkyrie Enterprises on Navy vessel habitability restoration and alteration installation team engineering services aboard guided-missile destroyers and aircraft carriers including USS HOWARD (DDG-83), USS HOPPER (DDG-70), USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER (CVN-69), and USS PREBLE (DDG-88). Place of performance is predominantly San Diego, California (headquarters and manufacturing), with subordinate performance in Norfolk, Virginia and Baltimore, Maryland for specific Navy and Coast Guard vessel work. The company has held federal prime awards continuously since 1988 and identifies itself as the incumbent OEM for Navy and Coast Guard shipboard berthing, modular furniture, and habitability components.

Manufacture Shipboard Furniture: Modular Berthing Units, Lockers, Lavatory Units, Recreational Furniture, Lounge Furniture, Sanitary Space Materials, Custom Fabricated Furniture and Metal Products