Federal contractor · LOUISVILLE, CO

OCTAVE PHOTONICS LLC

OCTAVE PHOTONICS LLC received $3.7M in federal contract obligations in FY2026, on 7 awards (+677% vs FY2025). Since FY2020: $6.1M. Its largest customer was Department of the Air Force ($1.9M). It also received $214K in federal grants and other assistance in FY2026.

Obligations · FY2026
$3.7M
New awards
7
Sole-source
0.0%
Single offer
6.7%
UEI
LZ6FL88D3NK3
Small business
Open in the contracts explorerRelationship graph

Spending by fiscal year

Obligations per federal fiscal year (October–September).

  1. 175KFY2020
  2. 749.9KFY2021
  3. 159.8KFY2022
  4. 71.8KFY2023
  5. 729.4KFY2024
  6. 482.6KFY2025
  7. 3.7MFY2026

Top buying agencies

Obligations in FY2026.

  1. Department of the Air Force$1.9M51%
    2 awards
  2. National Aeronautics and Space Administration$1.5M40%
    3 awards
  3. Department of the Army$249.9K6.7%
    1 awards
  4. Department of the Navy$99.8K2.7%
    1 awards

What was bought · Where the work was performed

Obligations in FY2026.

What was bought

  1. Research & development$3.7M100%

Where the work was performed

  1. Boulder County, CO$3.7M100%

Integrity signals

Shares of the year's obligations, next to the country's.

  • Low competition6.7%
    US 39% · $249.9K
  • Sole-source awards0.0%
    US 30% · $0
  • Single-offer competitions6.7%
    US 8.7% · $249.9K
  • Urgency justifications0.0%
    US 5.1% · $0

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Largest awards

  1. TOPIC: AF23C-T002 F2-19043: FREQUENCY-AGILE COMBS ON THE TANTALA AND LITHIUM-NIOBATE PLATFORM (FRACTAL)$1.9M
    Department of the Air Force· Boulder County, CO· Research & development· Feb 25, 2026 – Feb 25, 2026· FA955026CB004
  2. PHASE II SBIR$1.3M
    National Aeronautics and Space Administration· Boulder County, CO· Research & development· Sep 25, 2026 – Sep 25, 2026· 80NSSC26C0137
  3. TERABIT-PER-SECOND INTEGRATED PHOTONIC TRANSCEIVER FOR REDUCED OPTICAL-LINK POWER (TIPTOP).$249.9K
    Department of the Army· Boulder County, CO· Research & development· Dec 11, 2025 – Dec 11, 2025· W912CG26PA004
  4. 873AUTHORITY$246.1K
    Department of the Navy· Boulder County, CO· Research & development· Jul 1, 2025 – Mar 16, 2026· N6426725C7071
  5. STTR PHASE I OCTAVE-SPANNING, LOW-SWAP YTTERBIUM MODE-LOCKED-LASER FOR PORTABLE ULTRA-STABLE FREQUENCY COMBS$225K
    National Aeronautics and Space Administration· Boulder County, CO· Research & development· Sep 23, 2026 – Sep 23, 2026· 80NSSC26C0284
  6. KEY GOAL OF THIS STTR PROJECT IS TO TRANSFER CUTTING-EDGE PHCR TECHNOLOGY TO A COMMERCIAL LASER PLATFORM SUPPORTING APPLICATIONS IN QUANTUM SENSING.$180K
    Department of the Air Force· Boulder County, CO· Research & development· May 29, 2025 – Jan 14, 2026· FA254125PB034
  7. SBIR I NONLINEAR OPTICAL CONVERTERS FOR NEXT-GENERATION OPTICAL CLOCKS (NOCNOC)$156.3K
    National Aeronautics and Space Administration· Boulder County, CO· Research & development· Sep 9, 2025 – Dec 29, 2025· 80NSSC25C0276

Federal grants & assistance received

Grants, loans (counted at their subsidy cost), direct payments and insurance, by fiscal year of the action (USAspending.gov, FABS). Reported apart from contracts and never added to them.

OCTAVE PHOTONICS LLC received $214K in federal assistance in FY2026, on 1 actions (0 new awards). Its largest program was 11.042 · Chips Research and Development ($214K).

Assistance · FY2026
$214K
New awards
0
Actions
1
Since FY2024
$504K

Assistance by fiscal year

  1. 290KFY2024
  2. 214KFY2026

By type

  1. Grants$214K100%

Top programs

  1. 11.042 · Chips Research and Development$214K100%

Awarding agencies

  1. National Institute of Standards and Technology$214K100%
    Department of Commerce

Largest awards

  1. PURPOSE: OCTAVE PHOTONICS SEEKS TO DEVELOP A NEW MEASUREMENT TOOL FOR CRITICAL METROLOGY IN THE SEMICONDUCTOR FABRICATION THAT CAN ANALYZE…$504K
    11.042 · Chips Research and Development· National Institute of Standards and Technology· Cooperative agreement· Sep 17, 2024 – Apr 22, 2026· 70NANB24H251

Source: Federal financial assistance transactions (Financial Assistance Broker Submission) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 10, 2026, loaded Oct 10, 2026 · FY2024–FY2026.

Subawards

Matched by Unique Entity ID: the first-tier subawards this organization reported as a prime recipient, and those primes reported paying it.

As a prime: who it pays · FY2026

No subawards reported as a prime in FY2026.

As a sub-recipient: who pays it · FY2026

No subawards reported to it in FY2026.

By fiscal year

  • FY2021: $0 paid out · $420.6K received
  • FY2022: $0 paid out · $600K received
  • FY2023: $0 paid out · $350.5K received
  • FY2025: $0 paid out · $288.3K received

Primes report first-tier subawards of $30,000 or more themselves, and many go unreported (GAO-24-106214). Reporting moved from FSRS to SAM.gov in March 2025 and fewer sub-contracts have been reported since. Amounts are what primes reported; they are never added to prime award totals.

Source: Subawards (first-tier sub-contracts and sub-grants reported under FFATA) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov (reports filed in SAM.gov, formerly FSRS)), data current to Oct 10, 2026, loaded Oct 10, 2026 · Subawards loaded from FY2021.

Teaming partners

Companies this company reported paying, primes that reported paying it, from FFATA subaward reports.

Companies it pays

No subawards reported to other companies.

Primes that pay it

1 company · $1.7M reported

  1. THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO$1.7M
    BOULDER, CO · 4 subawards

Primes report first-tier subawards of $30,000 or more themselves, and many go unreported (GAO-24-106214). Reporting moved from FSRS to SAM.gov in March 2025 and fewer sub-contracts have been reported since. Amounts are what primes reported; they are never added to prime award totals.

Source: Subawards (first-tier sub-contracts and sub-grants reported under FFATA) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov (reports filed in SAM.gov, formerly FSRS)), data current to Oct 10, 2026, loaded Oct 10, 2026 · Subawards loaded from 2021.

Competitors

Companies that win from the same buyers in the same markets: obligations by agency and industry compared over the last three fiscal years.

Compared on 5 markets (agency × industry), FY2024–FY2026.

  1. APECH LABS LLC$3.8M−88% in FY2026
    BUFFALO, NY · 72% of this company's obligations are in markets they both serveAir Force · Scientific research and development servicesNational Aeronautics and Space Administration · Scientific research and development services
  2. BUSEK CO., INC.$5M+721% in FY2026
    NATICK, MA · 79% of this company's obligations are in markets they both serveAir Force · Scientific research and development servicesNational Aeronautics and Space Administration · Scientific research and development services
  3. ETA SPACE LLC$5.7M−74% in FY2026
    ROCKLEDGE, FL · 84% of this company's obligations are in markets they both serveAir Force · Scientific research and development servicesNational Aeronautics and Space Administration · Scientific research and development servicesNavy · Scientific research and development services

Showing the top 3 of 25 competitors. Open the profile for the full list.

Who sells to the same buyers in the same markets, not who wins against whom on a given contract. Prime contract obligations by the agency and NAICS code of each award; subawards are never added. A company is a family of legal entities, joined by parent UEI or, in part, by an AI reading of names.

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 10, 2026, loaded Oct 10, 2026 · FY2024–FY2026.

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 10, 2026, loaded Oct 10, 2026.