Navy Awards $147.9 Million Aircraft Carrier Readiness Deal to Four Firms

Orbis Sibro, Mantech, QED Systems and HII Mission Technologies won a five-year, multiple-award contract for engineering and hazardous waste support to Commander, Naval Air Forces.

First Published: July 30, 2026, 1:34 PM ET

CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA — The U.S. Navy awarded four contractors a combined $147.9 million to keep its aircraft carriers mission-ready over the next five years.

The firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity award covers professional engineering assistance and hazardous waste and material handling for Commander, Naval Air Forces. A base ordering period runs through July 2031, with a six-month option that could extend the work into January 2032, as announced on war.gov.

Orbis Sibro Inc., a veteran-owned Charleston, South Carolina, engineering firm, shares the award with Mantech Advanced Systems International Inc.of Herndon, Virginia,QED Systems Inc.of Virginia Beach, Virginia, and HII Mission Technologies LLC of McLean, Virginia. Each contract carries a minimum guarantee of $2,500, for a total of $10,000 obligated at award using fiscal 2026 operations and maintenance funds. The four will compete for individual task orders as work is issued.

“Being appraised at CMMI Level 4 for both Development and Services reflects ORBIS’s commitment to disciplined execution, measurable performance, and continuous improvement across the work we deliver for our customers,” said Charlie Grabenstein, president of Orbis Sibro, in a company statement published earlier this year according to orbisinc.net.

The stakes fall squarely on carrier readiness. The Navy said 95% of the work will occur in government facilities, including aircraft carriers, protecting personnel and the environment during maintenance cycles. Contractors gain a guaranteed pipeline of task orders, while the service keeps competing bidders on each order, a structure that holds down cost. Sailors and the communities near carrier homeports stand to gain from tighter handling of hazardous materials.

Orbis traces its roots to submarine support and has built more than 25 years of sustained performance across systems engineering, logistics and cybersecurity, according to orbisinc.net. The company operates near key Navy installations, including the Washington Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Groton, Philadelphia and San Diego, according to orbisinc.net. That footprint positions it to service the fleet where carriers dock for repair and overhaul.

For the average reader, the award reflects how the Pentagon spends tax dollars to sustain the ships that project U.S. power abroad. Carrier readiness contracts rarely make headlines, yet they underpin the deployments that shape shipping lanes and the price of goods that cross them.

This has happened before. The Navy routinely bundles readiness support into multiple-award contracts and competes task orders among a small pool of qualified firms. The current deal drew six offers through a full and open competition on the System for Award Management website, according to highergov.com, and produced awards to four of them.

The next decisions rest with Commander, Naval Air Forces, and Naval Supply Systems Command Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk, the contracting activity. Task orders will follow as fleet needs arise once the ordering period opens in August 2026. A date for the first task order has not been announced.

Charleston has long anchored Navy work, as happened before. The city hosted a major naval shipyard and base for much of the 20th century, according to navy.mil, before the 1993 Base Realignment and Closure round shuttered the Charleston Naval Base and shipyard in 1996. The closure cost the region thousands of jobs, yet a defense-services industry regrew in its place, and firms rooted there now compete for contracts that keep the fleet at sea.