Federal Fire and Aviation Management

The Department of Agriculture Forest Service Fire and Aviation Management is a civilian sub-agency within the U.S. Forest Service that procures goods and services in support of wildfire suppression, aviation operations, and related emergency-response capabilities.

The Forest Service Fire and Aviation Management has awarded 5,300 federal contracts totaling $151.6 million in combined potential value since 2011, with $151.1 million obligated. Activity has contracted sharply in recent years: the agency issued 721 awards in 2019, declining to 426 in 2020, then dropping to just 5 awards in 2021, 2 in 2022, and 10 in 2023. The most recent recorded award closed on 2023-09-11. This collapse in award volume may reflect a shift in procurement strategy, transition to alternate acquisition vehicles, or consolidation of buying patterns—the underlying cause is not evident from award data alone.

The competitive landscape is highly fragmented. Among the top five primes by award count over the last five years, which collectively represent 50 percent of recent awards, no single vendor dominates: Amerivet Contracting holds 2 awards worth $9 thousand, while Klump Pump Inc., Weaverville-Douglas City Parks & Recreation, Butt Hut Inc., and Trinity Diesel Inc. each hold 1 award in the $10 thousand to $36 thousand range. The portfolio encompasses 603 distinct prime contractors across its five-year history, indicating extreme vendor fragmentation. By potential value over the last five years, the top five primes collectively represent 0 percent of combined potential value—a structural indicator that most awards fall below the reporting threshold or that value data is not systematized across the portfolio.

The set-aside mix is dominated by open competition: 59 percent of awards carry no set-aside designation, while 32 percent are Partial Small Business awards. HUBZone accounts for 5 percent of awards, Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business for 3 percent, and Total Small Business for 1 percent. Recent contract opportunities are not present in the source data. The sharp decline in award volume since 2020 and the absence of solicitation activity in the most recent data blocks suggest limited near-term contracting momentum at this office. Firms considering pursuit should verify current procurement intent and activity cadence directly with the sub-agency before investing business development resources.