Vaisala Inc.

Vaisala Inc., a foreign-owned manufacturer of specialized meteorological and environmental monitoring equipment, competes as a prime contractor across civilian and defense federal agencies, delivering radiosondes, ceilometers, wind sensors, barometric pressure instrumentation, and related atmospheric monitoring systems on full-and-open basis without set-aside designation. The company operates from headquarters in Louisville, Colorado and Superior, Colorado, with manufacturing facilities also in Finland, and has delivered more than $1.06 billion in combined potential value across 2,925 prime and sub awards since 1983, with 99% of recent activity concentrated in prime contracting.

Vaisala's customer concentration is heavily weighted toward weather observation infrastructure. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) dominates both volume and dollars—455 awards worth $304 million combined potential value—followed by the Federal Aviation Administration Headquarters (332 awards, $214.4 million). Together these two agencies account for approximately 27% of all Vaisala awards and 57% of combined potential value across the vendor's portfolio. The Army Test and Evaluation Command (255 awards, $41.5 million), the Navy Information Warfare Systems Command (74 awards, $23.5 million), and the Air Force (102 awards, $22.4 million) round out the top five customers. This concentration reflects Vaisala's established role as the primary supplier of radiosondes, barometer sensors, and cloud-height ceilometers to the Tri-Agency Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS) infrastructure operated by NOAA, FAA, and DoD.

Vaisala holds four major indefinite delivery vehicles: a $38.6 million Blanket Purchase Agreement with NOAA through July 2026 for CL-51 ceilometers under GSA Multiple Award Schedule authority; a $9.85 million IDC with NOAA through September 2028 for PTB330 ASOS barometer sensors; a $2.85 million IDC with NOAA through August 2029 for portable barometer pressure standard sensors; and a $3.6 million single-award IDC with Army Test and Evaluation Command through February 2031 for meteorological radiosondes (RS41-SG, RS41-SGE, RS41-SGM models). The company also holds a substantial seat on the GSA Federal Supply Schedule (973 task orders, $85.7 million combined potential value) and maintains 200 task orders under generic Multiple Award Schedule vehicles for $100.4 million combined potential value. Recent representative prime work includes a $2.99 million Air Force delivery order for mini-dropwindsondes (September 2024), a $3.12 million FAA delivery order for NAS assets (August 2024), and a $2.09 million NOAA task order for 202 CL-51 ceilometers under the ASOS Sensor Upgrade Project (August 2024).

The vendor's award activity has remained stable year over year—92 awards in 2022, 83 in 2023, 106 in 2024, 87 in 2025, and 31 through mid-2026—with a recompete cliff of 30 awards worth $64.8 million completing within the next twenty-four months. The portfolio is dominated by meteorological instruments and apparatus (1,250 awards across 2,927 total), pressure/temperature/humidity measurement instrumentation (146 awards), and supporting repair and maintenance services (182 and 91 awards respectively).

In its subcontractor role, Vaisala delivers humidity and temperature probes, radiosondes, and related meteorological components to Battelle Memorial Institute, KBR Wyle Services, ASRC Communications, Raytheon, Mantech, HX5 LLC, and Triad National Security for Arctic research logistics, space geodesy satellite development, Air Force operations and support, special operations weapons systems, and Los Alamos National Laboratory facility management. The subcontract footprint is minimal—34 awards or 1% of the portfolio—and concentrated in defense and research missions rather than weather observation infrastructure.

Vaisala competes on the open market without SBA certifications or set-aside designations across its entire federal footprint. The company's business model centers on sole-source and competitive delivery orders under established IDCs and GSA schedules with NOAA, FAA, and DoD rather than pursuing new IDIQ awards. Recent modifications to its NOAA and FAA vehicles have incorporated Federal Acquisition Regulation clause 52.229-3 addressing federal, state, and local tax compliance, reflecting ongoing contract administration and pricing adjustments. The vendor maintains strong market position in atmospheric monitoring equipment but faces recompete exposure on $64.8 million in awards completing within 24 months, including the $38.6 million ceilometer BPA expiring July 2026 and the $9.85 million ASOS barometer IDC expiring September 2028.