On-Call Helicopter Flight Services

The Department of the Interior Departmental Offices Interior Business Center established a Master IDIQ for turbine-powered rotary-wing helicopter flight services on May 20, 2015, with ordering authority that closed on August 31, 2017. This vehicle is no longer active — no task orders have been awarded in over eight years, and the ordering window expired nearly nine years ago.

The vehicle awarded 124 task orders through its lifecycle, with stable ordering activity: 41 orders in 2015, 39 in 2016, and 44 in 2017. All 124 orders were unrestricted competitive. The combined potential value of awarded task orders is $5.7 million, with the entire amount obligated. Task orders ranged widely in value; representative examples include a $533.6 thousand order to Last Frontier Air Ventures, a $312.1 thousand order to Soloy Helicopters LLC for Fish and Wildlife Service work, and a $267.9 thousand order to Soloy for a USGS polar bear capture project. Many orders fell in the $10,000 to $65,000 range, with completion dates typically within 30 to 90 days of award. Two orders were cancelled before execution.

Soloy Helicopters LLC and Pathfinder Aviation LLC dominated the prime base, each holding 31 task orders. Soloy commanded greater total value at $2 million combined potential across its awards, compared to Pathfinder's $1 million. Maritime Helicopters, Inc. ranked third with 23 orders valued at $894 thousand. The top five primes captured 90 percent of combined potential value; the remaining five firms split the residual $400,000 across fewer, smaller orders. Competition was concentrated among a small set of Alaska-based operators.

Customer concentration was similarly narrow. The Bureau of Land Management Alaska Region drove 39 orders worth $2.2 million combined potential value — roughly 39 percent of the vehicle's total activity. The USGS Office of Acquisitions and Grants placed 24 orders ($1.1 million), and Fish and Wildlife Service Region 7 issued 17 orders ($843 thousand). These three customers represented 88 percent of all task orders. Interior bureau regions, particularly Alaska operations, accounted for substantially all demand; there is no record of orders from outside Interior or from other federal agencies.

Scope across all awards was uniform: turbine helicopter flight services, including airframe and crew, with work supporting field operations ranging from wildlife surveys and scientific research to emergency search and rescue and fire suppression. All pricing was firm fixed price.

The Department of the Interior has awarded a Master IDIQ for flight services using a turbine powered rotary wing using various aircraft makes and models.