USFS Region 1 Ground Based Weed Spraying 2017-2022

The U.S. Forest Service, Department of Agriculture Region 1 (Northern Region) established a Master IDIQ for ground-based weed spraying and herbicide application services across multiple forests in the Northern Region, with a shared ceiling of $2.8 million and ordering authority that closed on March 31, 2022. Ordering is no longer active; the vehicle completed its five-year term nearly four years ago.

The contract span ground-based application of herbicides to treat noxious weed species using methods including truck-mounted, backpack, OHV, and horse-based spraying across the region's forests. Awards covered roadside treatment, cleared corridors, fire-recovery areas (BAER projects), and project-specific habitat restoration and timber-sale preparation. All work performed regionally across Forest Service units in Montana—Flathead, Helena-Lewis & Clark, Custer Gallatin, Lolo, and others—with task orders typically completing within a single fiscal year.

Three prime contractors split the awarded work: Monture Creek Land Management, Inc. (69 orders, $1.2 million combined potential value) and Helena Weed Control, LLC (59 orders, $1.3 million combined potential value) dominated by order count and value respectively, with Western Weed Control LLC capturing 7 orders worth $307 thousand. The two major primes together held roughly 94 percent of the combined potential value. All orders funded a single customer: the Forest Service R1-Northern Region itself.

The vehicle executed 135 task orders across its active life (2017–2022), with ordering momentum declining sharply in years two and three: 30 orders in 2018 and 27 in 2019, then 13 in 2020, 19 in 2021, and 11 in 2022. The combined potential value of $2.8 million obligated 100 percent of the vehicle's shared ceiling. Task order values ranged from under $5 thousand to roughly $108 thousand, with most single awards ranging $10 thousand to $40 thousand. About 79 percent of task orders (107 awards) carried no set-aside designation; 21 percent (28 orders) were Total Small Business set-asides, concentrated among the smaller contractors and concentrated in 2021.

The Forest Service is in need of ground based weed spraying/herbicide application services to treat and control noxious weed species across multiple forests in the Northern Region, Region 1. Application methods (e.g., spraying from an OHV, truck, horse, backpack, etc.) may vary by Forest. The contract will include weed spraying services, along with the supply of the required herbicides/chemicals used to manage noxious weed populations.