National UFO Historical Records Center and the AARO archive subscription

Type: nonprofit archive / proposed government data provider
Organization: National Unidentified Flying Object Historic Records Center (NUFOHRC)
Location: Rio Rancho, New Mexico
Official site: https://nufohrc.org/
Contracting notice: https://sam.gov/workspace/contract/opp/a1b98934796e4bb3bb7215780ce82131/view
Sourced: 2026-09-03

The National UFO Historical Records Center is a New Mexico nonprofit led by UFO historian David Marler. The organization describes its mission as collecting, preserving, and providing historical UFO material to researchers and the public. Its collection page lists official and civilian case files, recordings, correspondence, photographs, books, periodicals, news clippings, research notes, microfilm, and physical and digital artifacts.

AARO sought up to five years of access to the private archive

On July 31, 2026, Washington Headquarters Services published a notice of intent to award NUFOHRC a sole-source, firm-fixed-price contract on behalf of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office. The proposed subscription has a one-year base period and four one-year options. It would give AARO digital access to proprietary data, metadata, and analytical products concerning cases from before 1990.

The notice invokes the federal exception allowing a sole source when only one supplier can satisfy the requirement. It says government market research identified NUFOHRC as the only source with the necessary historical depth, unique records, and analytical expertise. It characterizes the archive as the world's largest private UAP collection, containing hundreds of thousands of case files unavailable elsewhere.

The public record documents the procurement at the notice-of-intent stage. The opportunity closed on August 17 and was archived on September 1; SAM.gov lists no related award notice or attachments. The notice describes access to a commercial subscription rather than government acquisition or transfer of the physical archive.

Private preservation is becoming part of AARO's historical review

The September 2 DefenseScoop report says the archive includes personal collections entrusted to Marler by early researchers and their families, including rare J. Allen Hynek files and the complete records of an early civilian research organization. NUFOHRC did not respond to the publication's request for comment, and the article does not identify that organization by name.

The procurement is a concrete expansion of AARO's source base beyond federal holdings. The government notice explicitly says that unique historical case files survive only in this private archive. A subscription could help AARO identify missing context and locate government-origin records preserved by civilian researchers after official investigations ended.

The arrangement also separates research access from public access. The notice promises AARO digital access to proprietary holdings and analytical products. It does not describe digitization deliverables for the National Archives, publication rights, public-release requirements, or the government's estimated cost.

Source assessment

The planned subscription, scope, duration, sole-source rationale, and government description of the archive are directly documented in SAM.gov. The archive-size and exclusivity figures are procurement assertions based on government market research, while no public catalog currently permits an item-by-item check. DefenseScoop adds the reported custodial history and says the Pentagon declined to disclose the estimated cost.

Followup items

Check SAM.gov and USASpending for an award, final value, or later modification under notice NUFOHRC_20260731.
Identify the unnamed early civilian research organization whose complete records DefenseScoop says NUFOHRC holds.
Determine whether the subscription requires NUFOHRC records or analytical products to enter the National Archives UAP Records Collection or become publicly accessible.