The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory LLC

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory LLC (APL) operates as a federally funded research and development center delivering advanced systems engineering, research and development, and prototype development across defense and civilian federal agencies as a prime contractor (97% of recent awards), competing exclusively on full-and-open basis with no set-aside participation. APL is a not-for-profit subsidiary of Johns Hopkins University headquartered in Laurel, Maryland, with secondary operational locations in Huntsville, Alabama; El Segundo, California; Washington, D.C.; Fort Eustis and Newport News, Virginia; and Chantilly, Virginia.

APL's capability portfolio centers on naval combat systems engineering and integration, missile defense systems analysis and development, space systems engineering and astrophysics research, autonomous systems, AI and machine learning integration, electromagnetic spectrum technologies and warfare, undersea warfare systems, biomedical research supporting warfighter health and performance, and advanced prototype development. Recent representative work includes a $76.6 million Naval Sea Systems Command delivery order for sensor netting family of systems development; a $56.407 million Missile Defense Agency order for defense of Guam support through December 2030; a $52.087 million US Cyber Command delivery order (CRAFTYTOKEN) through July 2031; a $29.459 million NASA Marshall Space Flight Center order for planetary science support through December 2030; and a $23.142 million NASA delivery order for Parker Solar Probe mission operations management. APL also received a $1.499 million NASA Goddard Space Flight Center definitive contract for Space Weather Geostationary Photospheric Magnetograph Imager Phase A study with named subcontractors Daystar Instruments, L.L.C., Princeton University, Dell Federal Systems L.P., IP Datasystems Inc., and the Smithsonian Institution.

Customer concentration is heavily weighted toward defense. The top five customers account for approximately 68% of awards by count and 79% of combined potential value. Naval Sea Systems Command dominates as the primary customer with 3,561 awards valued at $29.39 billion combined potential value, followed by the Missile Defense Agency (316 awards, $11.34 billion), NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (202 awards, $9.35 billion), the Office of the Secretary of Defense (88 awards, $7.14 billion), and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (572 awards, $2.63 billion). The Department of the Navy (including NAVSEA, Naval Strategic Systems Programs, Naval Air Systems Command, Office of Naval Research, and other Navy components) anchors roughly 62% of APL's portfolio by award count and substantially more by dollar value.

APL holds substantial IDIQ vehicles concentrated at the Department of the Navy. The top five parent vehicles include Naval Sea Systems Command Indefinite Delivery Contract N0002413D6400 (2,046 task orders, $7.42 billion combined potential value), IDC N0002403D6606 (1,644 task orders, $3.42 billion), IDC N0002422D6404 (880 task orders, $4.02 billion), IDC N0002498D8124 (769 task orders), and H9222215D0004 (193 task orders, $324.9 million). Recent IDIQs awarded to APL include a $74.479 million single-award contract from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for satellite environmental monitoring programs (SSEMP) through August 2031; a $25 million Army Research Development and Engineering Command UARC IDIQ for the Complex Advanced Teaming Operations (CATO) program; and a $22.3 million Bureau of Diplomatic Security IDIQ for research and development supporting diplomatic security. APL also holds single-award UARC vehicles with the US Special Operations Command ($405 million ceiling noted in source material), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and other defense customers.

Activity across APL's prime portfolio shows elevated baseline: 448 awards in 2023, 422 in 2024, 372 in 2025, 229 in 2026, and 1 in 2027 (source coverage through March 2027). Combined potential value across all 8,561 awards (8,339 prime, 222 sub) totals $76.09 billion, with $33.54 billion obligated to date (44% of potential value). A recompete cliff presents material risk: 459 awards valued at $7.19 billion combined potential value reach ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months.

SCI-reported invoiced revenue across FY2022–FY2024 totaled $1.75 billion for APL prime contracts above the $150,000 federal service contract reporting threshold (FY2022: $421.6 million; FY2023: $600 million; FY2024: $725.7 million; FY2025: $618.1 million). SCI-reported FTE trajectory showed growth from 862 in FY2022 to 1,260 in FY2024, then declined to 987 in FY2025. Median government-paid hourly rates on SCI-reportable prime contracts run approximately $206 per hour, with a spectrum from $154 at the 10th percentile through $287 at the 90th percentile. Across SCI-reportable prime contracts, subcontractors account for an average 3% of total contractor hours, with 139 named subcontractors reported over the SCI period—a posture indicating APL builds its own delivery teams internally and engages specialized subs on discrete technical tasks rather than operating as a subcontractor to larger primes.

APL operates as a prime on cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery orders and firm-fixed-price contracts across its IDIQ portfolio. The vendor's sub-award footprint (222 sub awards, 3% of portfolio) includes work as a subcontractor to University System of New Hampshire on solar wind plasma sensor flight instrument production and to the University of Missouri on the CUCKOO (Covert Unmanned Cyber and Countermeasures for Offensive Operations) research effort under Office of Naval Research funding. As a federal grant sub-recipient, APL participates in research teams led by Arizona State University (pandemic expansion analysis), Morgan State University (atmospheric composition prediction), the University of Alabama in Huntsville (solar flare alert system), the University of Chicago (heliophysics modeling), Princeton University (magnetosphere-ionosphere research), and others across space science, public health, and advanced research domains. APL holds one prime federal grant award: ASTHROS 2 (Astrophysics Stratospheric Telescope for High Spectral Resolution Observations at Submillimeter-Wavelengths) from NASA, awarded June 2024 with completion September 2025.