Vadum Inc.

Vadum Inc., a Raleigh, North Carolina-based for-profit Subchapter S Corporation small business, delivers advanced research and development services in machine learning, artificial intelligence, electronic warfare, sensors, autonomous systems, and related defense technologies to the Department of Defense and allied federal agencies as a prime contractor (96% of recent awards) across SBIR, STTR, OTA, and full-and-open competitive vehicles. The vendor competes predominantly under total small business set-asides; most awards carry the total small business designation, with occasional full-and-open placements on larger defense programs. Vadum operates as a manufacturer of goods and a technology development firm without stated SBA 8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB, WOSB, or other socioeconomic certifications beyond small-business status.

Vadum's customer concentration heavily favors Army and Navy research and development commands. The top five funding components account for 70% of recent awards and 76% of combined potential value: the Department of the Army Materiel Command Research Development and Engineering Command (37 awards, $32.6 million combined potential value), the Department of the Navy Naval Sea Systems Command (17 awards, $29.3 million), the Department of the Army broader entity (6 awards, $10.3 million), the Office of Naval Research (12 awards, $8 million), and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (4 awards, $7.9 million). Across the full portfolio, Vadum has worked with 22 distinct federal agencies, but defense R&D commands dominate both volume and dollars. Recent prime capability work includes a $1.96 million cost-plus-fixed-fee definitive contract with Naval Sea Systems Command on the SBIRS High Major Defense Acquisition Program for infrared sensors, data processing, and visualization (awarded April 2026, completion April 2029); an $8.9 million airborne electronic warfare research, development, and platform integration contract with Naval Sea Systems Command covering algorithms for systems including REAM, ROCS, SI12, EMWRAM, and ALRT (awarded July 2024, running through June 2029); a $1.9 million Army SBIR Phase II contract for machine learning-based RF signature detection and classification (awarded August 2025, completion August 2027); and a $1.8 million Air Force Research Laboratory contract for large language model analysis and structuring of multi-modal command, control, communications, and computer data (awarded August 2024, completion November 2026). Vadum also holds a position on the Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD) multiple-award IDIQ contract awarded by the Missile Defense Agency on December 29, 2025, with a $151 billion ceiling and performance through December 28, 2035; the initial task order carried a firm fixed price of five hundred dollars.

Activity declined sharply in recent fiscal years—from 14 awards in 2022 to 6 in both 2024 and 2025, with 3 awards in the first quarter of 2026—suggesting a transition away from high-volume SBIR Phase I placements toward larger, longer-duration contracts. Five awards with ultimate completion dates in the next twenty-four months carry combined potential value of $9 million, representing moderate recompete exposure. In its subcontractor role (4% of awards), Vadum delivers work to General Dynamics Global Force on unspecified services (award November 2024) and to Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation on electromagnetic maneuver warfare resource allocation management computer software and engineering services (awards June 2023 and December 2021). The vendor's capability portfolio emphasizes applied R&D in sensor technologies, artificial intelligence, electronic warfare, and autonomous systems with direct application to military communications, missile defense, and multidomain operations; work is performed at Vadum's Raleigh facility.

Service Contract Inventory data is sparse—only two SCI-reportable records spanning FY2023–FY2024—with $762 thousand in SCI-reported invoiced revenue across roughly 1.8 FTEs in FY2024. Government-paid rates on captured SCI records cluster tightly around $159–$160 per hour (median $159.61/hr). This SCI activity is a minimal fraction of Vadum's true federal R&D footprint, which is dominated by cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price SBIR, STTR, and direct R&D contracts that do not fall under SCI's $150,000 reporting threshold or service-contract classification. Vadum performs substantially all work in-house; the SCI dataset shows 0% average sub-hours share on prime contracts, indicating vertical integration rather than reliance on subcontractors.