Wested

Wested, a nonprofit educational research and development organization headquartered in San Francisco with over 900 employees across 12 offices nationwide, delivers applied research, evaluation services, curriculum development, and professional development to federal education agencies as a prime contractor on major indefinite delivery vehicles and as a subcontractor to federal prime integrators. The organization competes full-and-open across all work; no set-asides apply to its federal footprint.

Wested operates primarily as a prime contractor, capturing 84% of recent awards by count. The top five customer agencies by award count account for 49% of awards: the Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences leads with 67 awards valued at $2.28 billion combined potential, followed by the General Services Administration and the National Science Foundation (54 awards each), the Department of Education's Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (44 awards, $45.2 million), and the Department of Education (26 awards, $14.3 million). By dollar magnitude, IES dominates overwhelmingly at $2.28 billion of the organization's $3.1 billion combined potential value across all awards; the Office of the Chief Financial Officer contributes a distant second at $563.2 million on just 3 awards. Wested serves 42 distinct federal customer agencies, with substantive work anchored in the Education Department ecosystem.

Wested's capability portfolio centers on education sciences research, evaluation and statistics support, regional education laboratory operations, curriculum alignment and assessment development, professional development and technical assistance for teachers, data analytics, and program evaluation across STEM education, literacy, special education, and equity-focused initiatives. Representative prime work includes a $2 billion Procurement of Research Evaluation and Statistics Task Orders (PRESTO) multiple-award indefinite delivery contract with the Institute of Education Sciences as the baseline vehicle for research, evaluation, and statistical support; a $26.8 million Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) definitive contract with IES for applied research, training, and technical support across the western region (FY2022–FY2024 SCI-reported invoicing of $14.7 million, $20.7 million, and $18.1 million respectively across roughly 43–61 FTEs, with government-paid rates ranging from $114/hr at the 10th percentile to $277/hr at the 90th percentile); a $23.4 million REL Northwest contract with IES for the 2022–2027 cycle, under which Wested engages subcontractors including Analytica Inc. (women-owned small business), Teachers College Columbia University, and Marzano Research LLC; and a $60 million Data Analytics and Evaluation Support (DAES) Blanket Purchase Agreement with the Department of Education's Office of Planning Evaluation and Policy Development to provide data analytics, evaluation research, and statistical analysis services across educational programs. Recent education innovation and research grant work includes a $6.66 million Education Innovation and Research grant for dual enrollment mathematics equity, a $9.1 million EIR grant for Reading Apprenticeship for Academic Literacy Learning (RA4ALL), a $9.02 million EIR grant for the Early Math Initiative to prepare high-need and Native American students for elementary mathematics, and a $4.62 million NASA cooperative agreement on data-fluent teacher development for Earth science learning. Wested also holds grants from the National Science Foundation (STEM Education, Division of Research on Learning), the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (special education technical assistance and fiscal reporting), the National Institute of Justice (community safety research and school police reform evaluation), and other agencies totaling dozens of active project grants spanning K–12 and postsecondary education research, STEM broadening participation, and justice-sector evaluation.

Wested places work under its two primary indefinite delivery vehicles: the $2 billion PRESTO IDIQ with IES (ten-year term through February 2028, multiple award, task orders in research evaluation and statistics, assessment development, communications, recruitment, and operational support) and the $60 million DAES BPA with the Department of Education's Office of Planning Evaluation and Policy Development (term through September 2026, multiple award, data analytics and evaluation task orders). Additional contract vehicles include a General Services Administration Multiple Award Schedule with 10 active task orders valued at $595.4 million combined potential and a Basic Ordering Agreement (GS09B01106) with 71 task orders totaling $39.4 million. Wested also maintains a nominal $1,000 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration IDIQ (domains 1L and 5L, single award, term through July 2027).

SCI-reported prime contract invoicing across FY2022–FY2024 totaled $53.6 million, with FY2023 peak invoicing of $20.7 million across 60.5 FTEs. The median government-paid hourly rate on prime contracts ran around $165/hr, with senior labor (90th percentile) pricing through $277/hr; entry-level administrative and program assistant roles priced near $83–$102/hr. Across SCI-reportable prime contracts, subcontractors performed approximately 10% of contractor hours on average; Wested named 30 distinct subcontractors including Analytica, Teachers College Columbia University, Marzano Research, the RAND Corporation, American Institutes for Research, and Policy Studies Associates. Wested operates predominantly as its own delivery vehicle rather than as a feeder to larger primes; 84% of awards are prime positions, and the 16% subcontract footprint skews toward specialized research, evaluation, and technical assistance roles on behalf of university, research center, and federal-agency prime grantees.

Activity averaged 35 awards annually over the past five years (2022–2026), with recent growth from 23 awards in 2023 to 39 in 2025; 2026 shows 6 awards year-to-date. Twenty-three awards valued at $54.8 million combined potential face ultimate completion inside the next twenty-four months, presenting recompete opportunity for competitors and recompete-management workload for Wested across IES, NSF, and OESE portfolios. The organization's federal footprint is concentrated in education research, evaluation, and service delivery, with no exposure to defense, intelligence, or GSA leasing mandates that dominate several NAICS codes in its portfolio; Wested's competitive position anchors on deep expertise in education sciences, multisite research infrastructure, evaluation rigor, and established relationships with the federal education research and grant-making ecosystem.