EXCLUSIVE USE (EU) HELICOPTER (HELO) Type III NON-FIRE RESOURCES (ARCTIC DISTRI

The Department of the Interior's Interior Business Center is seeking an exclusive use helicopter service for the Bureau of Land Management's Arctic District Office in Fairbanks, Alaska. The procurement is for a light helicopter with five passenger seats, contractor-operated and maintained, to support various natural resource missions including personnel and cargo transport, remote radio site maintenance, geological surveys, archaeological work, and non-threatening law enforcement surveillance. The helicopter must meet specific technical requirements, including a turbine engine, skid-type landing gear, 120 knots maximum airspeed, and a minimum payload of 600 pounds under specified conditions. The solicitation is expected to be released in mid-February 2025, with proposals due by early March 2025. While specific evaluation criteria are not detailed in the pre-solicitation notice, contractors will need to demonstrate compliance with the technical and operational specifications outlined in the forthcoming solicitation.

The contract will be a total small business set-aside under NAICS category 481211, with a size standard of 1,500 employees. The procurement is structured as an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract with a five-year ordering period from April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2030, featuring annual exclusive use periods of approximately 110 days (May 20 - September 6). The previous contractor was Lohman Helicopters, whose contract (140D0424D0051) was terminated for cause after the first year and had a ceiling of $5.6 million. While the exact award value for this new solicitation is not specified, potential offerors can expect a contract value in a similar range. The solicitation number is 140D0425Q0213, and interested small businesses should carefully review the technical requirements and operational expectations for this Arctic-focused helicopter service contract.