Westat, Inc.

Westat, Inc., a tax-exempt research and evaluation firm headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, serves the federal government as a large, unrestricted prime contractor delivering federal research, data collection, statistical analysis, and program evaluation services to civilian health, education, and social policy agencies. The firm competes full-and-open with no SBA set-aside designations and operates as a prime on 98% of recent awards, self-performing the majority of delivery with subcontractor engagement at roughly 6% of contractor hours across prime contracts. Westat's corporate structure includes four named subsidiaries: The Rockville Institute, Insight Policy Research, Inc., Fenestra Technologies Corporation, and Eagle Design & Management, Inc.

Westat's capability portfolio centers on large-scale longitudinal surveys, epidemiological research coordination, program evaluation, and evidence-building services. Representative contract work includes a $780.5 million definitive contract with the National Institute on Drug Abuse for the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study spanning longitudinal data collection, statistical analysis, and program evaluation across multiple survey waves through November 2030; a $193.3 million definitive contract with the Institute of Education Sciences for National Assessment of Educational Progress data collection through December 2029, with FY2025 invoicing of $17.4 million across 37.5 FTEs; a $149.8 million delivery order with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality for systematic evidence reviews supporting the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force through November 2028, including cancer screening and health condition assessments; and a $36.8 million firm fixed-price delivery order with CDC Pittsburgh for the Virtual SARS-CoV-2, Influenza, and Other Respiratory Viruses Network (VISION 2.5) surveillance program through March 2030. SCI-reported invoicing totaled $991.4 million across FY2022–FY2025, with $219.6 million invoiced in FY2025 across 741 FTEs, reflecting variable workforce scaling tied to multi-year research cycles. Government-paid hourly rates on SCI-reportable prime contracts span a median of $148.50/hr with a 10th percentile of $55.57/hr and a 90th percentile of $697.86/hr, positioning Westat across research support, administrative, and senior technical labor markets.

Customer concentration is heavily weighted to health and education agencies. The top five customers by potential value account for 55% of the combined award portfolio: the National Cancer Institute leads with 181 awards valued at $6.57 billion; CDC's Office of Acquisition Services (116 awards, $6.24 billion); the Institute of Education Sciences (89 awards, $4.67 billion); the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (67 awards, $2.5 billion); and CDC Pittsburgh (137 awards, $1.66 billion). The National Institutes of Health broadly anchors roughly 30% of Westat's prime award portfolio across cancer epidemiology, pediatric HIV research, behavioral health, survey infrastructure, and other health research initiatives. Education work concentrates at the Department of Education, particularly the Institute of Education Sciences, where Westat holds major contracts for NAEP support, regional technical assistance, and special education data collection. Recent expansion into transportation safety research is evidenced through work with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for human factors research, occupant protection surveys, and drowsy-driver intervention assessment. The firm's 3,241 total awards (prime and sub) across 175 distinct customer agencies, sourced from award activity spanning 1981 through September 2026, reflect sustained federal footprint across civilian research and evaluation infrastructure.

Westat holds significant position on government-wide and agency vehicles. Major IDIQ and BPA vehicles include a $999.999 billion ceiling OASIS+ Unrestricted Multiple Award IDIQ awarded by GSA on December 17, 2024 (through December 2029), enabling task order access across federal agencies for research, data collection, and program evaluation; a $344.7 million single-award Evaluations and Evidence Building IDIQ with Health Resources and Services Administration (September 2024 through September 2027); a $232.7 million single-award Medical Expenditure Panel Survey-Household Component IDIQ with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (through September 2029); a $120 million multiple-award Human Factors IDIQ with NHTSA (through March 2030); a $70 million FDA Quick Turnaround Social Science Research Services multiple-award BPA (December 2025 through December 2030); and a $3.5 billion multiple-award RMADA 3 IDIQ with CMS for research, measurement, assessment, design, and analysis services (July 2026 through July 2031). Task order activity under these vehicles reflects sustained ordering from health surveillance, education evaluation, and transportation safety customers. The Multiple Award Schedule represents substantial activity with 198 task orders valued at $1.56 billion combined potential value, anchoring Westat's access to civilian agency customers across health, education, and social policy domains.

Activity trajectory shows recent moderation. Award volume peaked at 101 awards in 2024, declining to 32 in 2025 and 42 in 2026 (year to date through September 30). SCI-reported FTE counts reflected substantial scaling during FY2022 (3,036 FTEs) and FY2023 (1,326 FTEs), declining to 1,484 FTEs in FY2024 and 741 FTEs in FY2025, signaling workforce right-sizing tied to completion or wind-down of major longitudinal research initiatives. Within the next twenty-four months, 78 awards with combined potential value of $712.3 million face ultimate completion, representing recompete exposure across Westat's research infrastructure base and creating near-term opportunity for competitors or teaming partners to pursue successor vehicles.

Westat's teaming posture reflects prime-centric delivery with selective subcontracting. Named subcontractors across prime contracts include Research Triangle Institute (frequently engaged on MEPS medical provider component data collection and National Survey on Drug Use and Health work), the National Opinion Research Center (NHANES data collection), RAND Corporation (health survey and analysis), and academic research centers including The Leland Stanford Junior University, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, The Ohio State University, and The Johns Hopkins University on epidemiological research networks. Across SCI-reportable prime contracts, subcontractors account for approximately 6% of contractor hours, with 317 named subcontractors reported across the SCI dataset, indicating a lean supply-chain model where the prime retains core delivery capability and engages specialized partners for niche technical, analytical, or subject-matter contributions. On grant work, Westat serves as prime recipient or sub-recipient, with examples including cooperative agreements as the Early Psychosis Intervention Network data coordinating center with the National Institute of Mental Health and as data collection agent for the 2024–2028 Annual Survey of Jails in Indian Country with the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Federal grant footprint includes activity across STEM education, education research, behavioral health, and justice research. Recent prime grant awards include a $900,000 NSF project grant (CFDA 47.076) to develop an interactive dashboard for Tribal Colleges and Universities Program outcomes (through July 2028) and a $278,956 education research project grant (CFDA 84.305) analyzing Washington state's longitudinal education data to assess postsecondary education benefits for underserved populations (through June 2027). Cooperative agreements include ongoing service as the NIMH Early Psychosis Intervention Network data coordinating center (through August 2030) and the Bureau of Justice Statistics data collection agent for jails in Indian Country (through June 2028). Sub-grant activity reflects engagement under Harvard-led pediatric HIV research networks (PHACS) providing administrative and data coordination support, Clemson University health disparities research (HANDLS), and Johns Hopkins epidemiological cohort studies (NHATS). Grant engagement signals Westat's capacity to manage complex, multi-site research infrastructure and coordinate across academic research consortia.

GSA Schedule labor portfolio on the Multiple Award Schedule spans 123 active categories with hourly rates from $37.70 (Field Interviewer, high school education, no experience required) to $479.39 (IT Principal with PhD and 17 years' experience). Mid-range categories reflect substantial availability of research, statistical, and program evaluation roles: IT Senior Analyst II at $173.20/hr (bachelor's, 8 years' experience), IT Project Director IV at $262.94/hr (master's, 8 years' experience), and Health IT Project Director II at $318.98/hr (master's, 11 years' experience). The labor portfolio carries no security-cleared positions and emphasizes civilian research infrastructure labor, aligning with the firm's positioning on GSA vehicles serving civilian agencies.