Trace Systems, Inc.

Trace Systems, Inc., a for-profit Subchapter S corporation headquartered in Vienna, Virginia, operates as a prime contractor delivering enhanced mobile satellite services (EMSS) equipment, activation, repair, and tactical communications support to the Department of Defense and subordinate commands, with recent awards across both full-and-open and small-business set-aside competition. The vendor competes primarily as a prime contractor on full-and-open delivery orders, with a small footprint as a subcontractor (less than one percent of awards).

Trace Systems' customer base concentrates heavily on Army and Navy components. The top five customers by award count—the Department of the Army Cyber Command (962 awards, $135.2 million potential value), U.S. Marine Corps (584 awards, $2 million), Naval Sea Systems Command (416 awards, $7.4 million), Air Force Air Combat Command (239 awards, $355 thousand), and U.S. Special Operations Command (183 awards, $185 thousand)—represent 59 percent of awards but only a small fraction of potential value, indicating that the vendor's highest-value work flows through larger parent vehicles anchored by Air Force and Navy Information Warfare Systems Command programs. The Department of the Air Force Joint All Domain Command and Control Support IDC (a $950 million multiple-award vehicle running through May 2030) and the Navy Information Warfare Systems Command account for four percent of combined potential value despite modest award counts, signaling that Trace Systems' revenue concentration differs substantially from order volume. A $623 million delivery order under the Global Tactical Advanced Communication System II (GTACS II) IDIQ placed in May 2025 and a $379 million GTACS II order placed in November 2024 anchor much of the recompete cliff—combined potential value of $687.9 million completes within twenty-four months.

Trace Systems holds position on multiple parent vehicles. The indefinite delivery contract HC101322D0005 (2,165 task orders, $13.9 million combined potential value) and the GSA Multiple Award Schedule (1,059 task orders, $34.4 million) form the vendor's core ordering vehicles, alongside the GSA Information Technology Schedule 70 (1,042 task orders, $4.9 million). The vendor also holds a Blanket Purchase Agreement HC101317A0002 (647 task orders, $2.5 million) and an indefinite delivery contract HC101317D0001 (25 task orders, $109.5 million combined potential value).

Award volume has contracted sharply after 2023. The vendor received 1,135 awards in 2022, declining to 474 in 2023, rebounding to 500 in 2024, then collapsing to 75 in 2025 and 1 award in 2026 (as of the snapshot date in April 2026). This trajectory reflects completion of high-volume EMSS equipment and service-activation orders that characterized the 2022–2024 period; the recent giant task orders under GTACS II suggest a shift toward fewer, larger platform-engineering and program-management contracts.

Trace Systems' capability portfolio centers on enhanced mobile satellite services—equipment procurement, field activation, repair, and logistics—augmented by technical support services and tactical communications systems engineering. Representative work includes a $63.7 million delivery order placed April 2026 under GTACS II for technical support services (Place of Performance: Tampa, Florida; completion April 2027); a $379 million delivery order placed November 2024 under GTACS II for global field support representative services on the Commercial Satellite Terminal Program (Vienna, Virginia; completion February 2027); and a $21.2 million delivery order placed September 2024 under GTACS II for engineering and technical contractor support services (Vienna, Virginia; completion April 2030). The bulk of remaining awards are micro-orders (under $20,000) for EMSS equipment, activation, and repair distributed across scores of Army, Navy, and Air Force commands.

SCI-reported invoiced revenue on federal service contracts above the $150,000 threshold totaled $84.6 million across FY2022–FY2024, with a declining trajectory: $30.8 million in FY2022 across 1,189 FTEs (contract-level), $36.9 million in FY2023 across 1,113 FTEs, and $17 million in FY2024 across 925 FTEs. Direct FTE staffing on SCI-reportable prime contracts stood at 160 in FY2022, 88.6 in FY2023, and 113 in FY2024. Government-paid hourly rates on prime contracts ranged from $2.50/hr (10th percentile) to a median of $132.08/hr and $182.38/hr at the 90th percentile, reflecting a mix of low-cost equipment-activation labor and higher-value engineering and program-management hours. Across SCI-reportable prime contracts, subcontractors performed an average of 30 percent of total contractor hours, with 33 named subcontractors reported. A single named sub-award places Trace Systems under Digital Consultants LLC on an NRL desktop support task (awarded March 2025).

The vendor's recent activity underscores a transition from high-volume tactical equipment distribution to large platform-engineering contracts on Joint All Domain Command and Control and tactical communications infrastructure. The four large recompete exposures in the next twenty-four months—anchored by GTACS II orders—suggest competitive vulnerability in the government's shift toward consolidated program-management vehicles and away from distributed micro-purchase EMSS supply.