The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's NAICS 541715 (Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology)) market: incumbents, spending trend, set-asides and open solicitations — from FY2026 USAspending awards and live SAM.gov notices.
Contract data as of Oct 18, 2026 (USAspending) · recent coverage verified weekly
| Quarter | Awards | Obligated | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 FY2026 | 52 | $209.9M | — |
| Q2 FY2026 | 95 | $117.0M | -44% |
| Q3 FY2026 | 157 | $451.2M | +285% |
| Q4 FY2026 | 340 | $318.0M | -30% |
Federal fiscal quarters (Q1 = Oct–Dec). Awards are counted in the quarter they start; obligations are the award's obligated amount.
| # | Contractor | Obligated | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY | $450.6M | 41.1% |
| 2 | SIERRA LOBO INC | $75.7M | 6.9% |
| 3 | BARRIOS TECHNOLOGY, LLC | $73.5M | 6.7% |
| 4 | THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY APPLIED PHYSICS LABORATORY LLC | $42.5M | 3.9% |
| 5 | TROY SIERRA JV LLC | $29.4M | 2.7% |
Registrations are rolled up to their corporate parent (USAspending parent UEI), so a company with several SAM registrations ranks once.
| Set-aside type | Obligated | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Small business set-aside | $214.6M | 55.5% |
| 8(a) | $29.4M | 7.6% |
| SDVOSB | $0 | 0.0% |
| WOSB / EDWOSB | $0 | 0.0% |
| HUBZone | $0 | 0.0% |
| No set-aside (full & open) | $142.8M | 36.9% |
Share of obligations on awards whose set-aside type is recorded — 35% of this market's dollars. Most USAspending bulk-archive records leave the field blank, so blank awards are excluded rather than counted as full & open.
Showing the 10 most recently posted of 11. Links open the notice on SAM.gov.
Source: USAspending.gov contract awards (prime awards with a start date from Oct 1, 2025 through Sep 30, 2026), SAM.gov contract opportunities, and SBA size standards. Recompetes are contracts whose final end date — options included — falls in the next 12 months. Figures are recomputed when a new USAspending load lands. See our data sources.