Transportation Research Center Inc.

Transportation Research Center Inc., doing business as TRC Inc., a nonprofit vehicle research and testing organization headquartered in East Liberty, Ohio, operates as a prime contractor (100% of recent awards) providing specialized vehicle safety testing, research, and evaluation services to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and other federal transportation agencies on a full-and-open basis with no set-aside activity. TRC Inc. has delivered nearly eight hundred awards across its federal footprint, with combined potential value of $927.3 million and $351.3 million in combined obligated dollars.

The vendor's customer concentration is extreme. NHTSA accounts for 84% of all awards and 89% of combined potential value ($829.5 million across 652 awards), with a secondary presence in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration ($53.6 million across two awards). Across the five-year award snapshot, NHTSA dominance persists in both volume and dollars; no other agency reaches even 1% of total potential value. The two rankings converge entirely—NHTSA is the overwhelming buyer by both count and value.

TRC Inc.'s work centers on Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards compliance testing, crash testing, advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) and automated driving system (ADS) evaluation, vehicle electronic systems safety research, cybersecurity assessment for automotive systems, and facility use and support services for NHTSA's Vehicle Research and Test Center (VRTC). Representative work includes a $24.68 million delivery order for biomechanics research and facility support services through August 2029 (with Ohio State University conducting subcontracted kinematics and injury research), a $20.07 million delivery order for crashworthiness research and facility operations (with MGA Research Corporation and Ohio State performing subcontracted testing and support), a $12.18 million delivery order for dummy management laboratory support services through June 2029, and a $10.96 million order for administrative laboratory support services and facility use through May 2029 (invoiced $627 thousand in FY2024 at $172.58/hour across 1.8 FTEs).

TRC Inc. holds a portfolio of five major parent IDV vehicles with NHTSA and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The flagship is a $200 million single-award Indefinite Delivery Vehicle for VRTC facility use and support services (awarded September 2023, completing September 2028), under which 33 task orders carry $105.1 million combined potential value. Four additional IDVs support compliance testing and electronic systems safety research: Indefinite Delivery Contract DTNH2207D00060 (128 task orders, $51.7 million), contract DTNH2213D00296 (78 task orders, $59.9 million), contract 693JJ918D000019 (65 task orders, $89.8 million), and contract 693JJ923D000051 for multi-standard compliance testing ($5 million ceiling, completing May 2028). A $110 million Vehicle Electronic Systems Safety IDIQ issued by NHTSA anchors testing work in AEB, ADAS, cybersecurity, and vehicle component functional safety across multiple task orders.

Activity has declined from 28 awards in 2023 to 9 in 2025 and 3 in 2026 year-to-date, signaling a contraction in recent procurement velocity. Twenty-one awards with combined potential value of $20.1 million reach ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months and face recompete exposure.

On SCI-reportable federal service contracts, TRC Inc. invoiced $94 million across FY2022 through FY2024 (FY2022: $17 million; FY2023: $50.8 million; FY2024: $26.2 million). FTE trajectory shows 56.2 FTEs in FY2022 scaling to 66.3 FTEs in FY2024, with government-paid hourly rates ranging from a 10th percentile of $93.73/hour to a median of $149.32/hour and a 90th percentile of $517.55/hour. TRC Inc. primarily self-performs work; across SCI-reportable prime contracts, subcontractors account for 3% of total contractor hours, with twenty-eight named subcontractors supporting specialized functions including biomechanics research (Ohio State University), crashworthiness testing (MGA Research Corporation), and roadway testing development (Battelle Memorial Institute). TRC Inc. operates as a sub-recipient on one federal grant (Ohio State University's fuel-economy optimization research) and as a subcontractor to Battelle on changeable roadway testing development.

Testing Laboratories and Services comprises 574 of TRC Inc.'s awards, underscoring specialization in vehicle testing and compliance services; secondary NAICS categories include research and development and engineering services. The vendor competes exclusively on capability and specialization in federal transportation safety research rather than through set-aside pathways and holds no portfolio beyond NHTSA and DOT modal administration work.