Burkhart Aaron

Burkhart Aaron, doing business as Early Winters Outfitters And Saddle Co, is a small business sole proprietorship based in Winthrop, Washington, that supplies water handling equipment, fire suppression apparatus, and related services to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service as a prime contractor under Total Small Business set-asides, with all 30 recent awards held as direct primes and zero subcontract footprint.

The vendor's customer base is heavily concentrated within the Forest Service. The top four customer entities — Forest Service Region 6 (Pacific Northwest Region), the National Interagency Fire Center, the Forest Service broadly, and Forest Service Region 4 (Intermountain Region) — account for 83% of recent awards and 99% of combined potential value. The National Interagency Fire Center leads on potential value ($1.1 million across 7 awards) while Region 6 leads on award count (12 awards, $858 thousand combined potential value). Burkhart Aaron's portfolio centers on NAICS 561730 (Support Activities for Forestry), with 24 awards under that code; the PSC code Natural Resources/Conservation – Forest-Range Fire Suppression/Presuppression dominates at 24 awards as well.

The vendor holds three primary IDVs: a $500,000 VIPR I-BPA for Water Handling in Region 6 awarded February 6, 2026, through May 29, 2030; a $250,000 VIPR I-BPA for Water Handling in the West Zone (Regions 3, 5, 6, and 10) awarded May 29, 2025, through May 29, 2030; and an older $250,000 VIPR I-BPA for Water Handling in the West Zone awarded July 20, 2022, through June 6, 2025 (now expired). Task orders under these vehicles total 17 across the three IDVs, with combined potential value of $729 thousand. Additional task orders flow through related Forest Service IDCs carrying smaller ceiling values. Recent deliveries include a $167,270 delivery order (July 24, 2026) for equipment and supplies supporting land management and fire suppression in Wenatchee, Washington; a $70,288 delivery order (August 17, 2026) for the same purpose in Wenatchee under the newer $500,000 IDV; and a $62,925 delivery order (August 14, 2026) for Pendleton, Oregon operations.

Activity has been modest but consistent. Awards per year averaged 3.6 over the past five reporting years (2021–2026), with a small uptick to six awards in 2026. Combined potential value across all 30 awards is $2.1 million, of which $927 thousand (43%) has been obligated to date. The vendor has been registered in SAM.gov since December 2003 and holds a record dating to at least July 2003. Place of performance concentrates in the Pacific Northwest and Intermountain regions, with primary operational bases in Wenatchee and Pendleton. The vendor supplies water handling equipment including Type 3–6 engines, Support Water Tenders Type 1–3, and Tactical Water Tenders Type 1–2 under VIPR I-BPA mechanisms.