On-Call Type III Helicopter Flight Services 2022 - 2027

The Department of the Interior Departmental Offices Interior Business Center awarded this Master IDIQ for on-call Type III helicopter flight services on May 1, 2022, with ordering authority extending through April 30, 2027 — approximately nine months remaining. The vehicle carries a 100% small business set-aside at the IDIQ level, though this structural restriction does not reflect the actual ordering pattern.

The vehicle has obligated its combined potential value of $32.6 million across 445 task orders since award, with ordering momentum declining: 95 orders in 2022, 113 in 2023, 102 in 2024, 86 in 2025, and 49 orders through July 2026. The most recent task order award occurred on July 2, 2026.

Work spans wildland fire suppression, prescribed burns, search and rescue, wildlife surveys, snow telemetry missions, aerial seeding, prescribed burn operations, cargo and personnel transport, and resource monitoring across the continental United States. Representative recent orders include fire suppression support ($1.16 million), law enforcement flights to Supai Village, Arizona ($459,710), Mount Rainier transport operations ($61,750), and snow monitoring assessment flights in Washington state ($60,133).

The prime contractor base is dispersed: Aspen Helicopters Inc. leads by potential value at $4.8 million across 27 orders, followed by Papillon Airways Inc. ($3.9 million, 34 orders), Brainerd Helicopters, Inc. ($3.3 million, 14 orders), and HMC Helicopter Service LLC ($3.1 million, 39 orders). The top five primes account for roughly 53% of combined potential value; the remaining 34 firms hold the tail. Northwest Helicopters LLC leads by order count (64 orders, $1.5 million).

Customer concentration is heavily Interior-focused: National Park Service Pacific West Region leads with 83 orders and $1.9 million combined potential value, followed by Bureau of Land Management Idaho Region (47 orders, $10.9 million) and National Park Service Intermountain Region (42 orders, $501 thousand). The top five customer entities account for roughly 53% of all task orders. Federal customers outside Interior (Navy, USDA, USGS) and other agencies appear sporadically.

Set-aside execution diverges sharply from the IDIQ structure: 85% of task orders carry no set-aside designation (377 orders), while 15% (68 orders) are awarded to small business. Typical task-order values range from under $5,000 to roughly $1 million, with firm fixed-price and occasional fixed-price-with-economic-price-adjustment structures. Performance occurs at dispersed locations nationwide, with concentration in Western and Pacific regions supporting fire, wildlife, and resource management operations.