The Potomac Institute For Policy Studies

The Potomac Institute For Policy Studies, a nonprofit science and technology policy research organization based in Arlington, Virginia, delivers research, strategic consulting, technology forecasting, and policy analysis to the federal government as a prime contractor on 263 awards (99% of recent activity) and holds no SBA set-aside designations — it competes full-and-open across defense, civilian space, and civilian agencies.

The Institute's customer footprint is dominated by the Department of the Navy Naval Sea Systems Command, which anchors the portfolio at $72.55 billion in combined potential value across just three awards (a stark concentration signal driven by large-value IDCs); this dwarfs the next tier, which includes the United States Marine Corps ($51 million across 21 awards), the Defense Microelectronics Activity ($48.7 million across 43 awards), and NASA's Johnson Space Center ($25.3 million across 25 awards). The top five customers by potential value represent 100% of the portfolio's total dollar value, indicating extreme concentration behind Navy and Marine Corps platforms. By award count, the Defense Microelectronics Activity leads (43 awards), followed by the Department of the Army (35 awards) and the Department of the Navy (27 awards), though Army and Navy awards carry significantly lower individual values than the strategic Navy Sea Systems Command contracts. The Institute has worked with 30 distinct federal agencies across its footprint.

Recent capability work spans technology forecasting for NASA human spaceflight programs (a $7 million single-award BPA through November 2027 from NASA Johnson Space Center), strategic consulting on AI and microelectronics (a $4.8 million NASA Science Mission Directorate delivery order for AI integration strategy, completed 2022; a $1.25 million Air Force contract tracing technology funding sources back to basic research, awarded September 2025), defense policy studies (a $12.4 million definitive Air Force contract for general support through April 2025, and a $2 million definitive Air Force contract for Project Yogurt through April 2026), and shipbuilding strategy (a $414,928.89 Department of the Navy delivery order for a Strategic Shipbuilding Landscape Study under the GSA Multiple Award Schedule, completed January 2025). The Institute also holds a $15 million GSA Federal Supply Schedule contract (multiple-award, through April 2028) under Special Item Number 541611 (management and financial consulting, acquisition and grants management, program and project management), with 34 active labor categories spanning subject matter experts, program managers, scientists, engineers, researchers, and administrative support, priced from $56.07 to $460.31 per hour, and requiring no security clearances.

The Institute sits on two primary federal vehicles: the GSA Multiple Award Schedule (33 task orders, $43.1 million combined potential value) and multiple Navy and Army IDCs, with the largest being IDC 6601D018002 (35 task orders, $9.3 million) and DABT6397D0009 (27 task orders). Award volume has declined over the past five years — eight awards in 2022 to one in 2026 — and only one award (worth $1.2 million) faces ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, indicating minimal recompete exposure in the near term. The Institute operates almost entirely as a prime (99% of awards); it appears as a named subcontractor on just two sub-awards, including microelectronics assurance research under Booz Allen Hamilton (December 2023) and an artificial general intelligence study support task under The RAND Corporation (October 2025). Service Contract Inventory data shows negligible invoiced revenue and fractional FTE scale (0.3 FTEs in FY2022, 0.0 in FY2023, 0.2 in FY2024), reflecting that SCI captures only service contracts above the $150,000 threshold; the Institute's award portfolio is dominated by large fixed-price studies and deliverables rather than ongoing time-and-materials service contracts. The Institute's work clusters in Administrative Management and General Management Consulting (62 awards), Other Scientific and Technical Consulting (30 awards), and Computer Systems Design Services (22 awards) by NAICS, with PSC distribution centered on Professional Support services (45 awards) and IT Equipment System Configuration (34 awards).