Vertebrate Systems LLC

Vertebrate Systems LLC, a San Diego-based sole proprietorship, manufactures specialized wildlife tracking equipment—GPS transmitters, satellite tags, radio tags, telemetry loggers, and sensor-equipped backpack systems—for federal ecological research and wildlife monitoring, operating exclusively as a prime contractor on small-business-set-aside and unrestricted purchase orders totaling $4.6 million in combined potential value across forty-three awards since 2022.

The vendor's customer footprint concentrates heavily on the Department of the Interior. USGS's Office of Acquisitions and Grants accounts for thirty-two awards and $4 million in combined potential value (87% of the portfolio by dollars), with individual purchase orders ranging from $14,945 to $473,659 for bird telemetry units, GPS loggers, transmitter tags, and tracking collars. The Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Wildlife Services, the second-ranked customer by both count and value, holds four awards totaling $239 thousand, including a five-year single-award Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity contract valued at $133,100 (July 2024–June 2029) for avian backpack transmitters and a guaranteed-minimum-order delivery order for $26,620. Secondary customers include the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management Wyoming Region, Department of the Interior's National Park Service Pacific West Region, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Research and Development, and USDA Forest Service units. The top five customers account for 93% of recent awards by count and 98% of combined potential value.

Representative capability work includes a $473,659 USGS purchase order for GPS loggers with internal antennas, waterproof housings, rechargeable batteries, and 4G data uploads; a $170,632 USGS Alaska Science Center order for 104 customizable GPS/accelerometer telemetry units configured as backpack-mounted systems for bird monitoring across four weight configurations; a $168,667 USGS Western Ecological Research Center order for GPS/GSM wildlife tracking devices and solar-powered tags for avian species; a $62,382 USGS order for telemetry transmitter tags; and a $55,176 USGS order for 35 GPS/GSM backpack transmitters equipped with accelerometry and solar recharge for water bird and piscivorous species monitoring. Award set-aside posture splits between Total Small Business designations (approximately sixty percent of awards) and unrestricted full-and-open procurement. The vendor holds two named parent IDV vehicles: an APHIS single-award Indefinite Delivery Contract (ING16PC00048) with nine task orders totaling $897 thousand, and a second IDC (12639524D0048) with one task order for $27 thousand. Activity has remained modest and stable—three to five awards annually since 2022—with only two awards (combined potential value $43 thousand) reaching ultimate completion inside the next twenty-four months, indicating minimal recompete exposure in the near term. Awards span NAICS 334519 (Other Measuring and Controlling Device Manufacturing) and 334220 (Radio and Television Broadcasting and Wireless Communications Equipment Manufacturing), with PSC alignment to Miscellaneous Communication Equipment and IT and Telecom network satellite and RF communications products hardware.