James K Austin

James K Austin, doing business as Austin Logging, is a self-certified small disadvantaged business sole proprietorship that provides firefighting and emergency response equipment and personnel services to the U.S. Forest Service as a prime contractor across multiple regions, operating exclusively under Total Small Business set-asides. The vendor is based in Marengo, Indiana, and specializes in wildland fire suppression and all-hazard incident response, deploying heavy equipment fleets—including skidder vehicles, soft tracks, and pumper cats equipped with water capabilities—along with qualified operators for up to 16 hours per day across U.S. Forest Service Regions 1, 2, 4, and 9.

The customer base is narrowly concentrated in the Department of Agriculture Forest Service. The National Interagency Fire Center accounts for nine awards ($1.9 million combined potential value), the Forest Service Region 1 (Northern Region) for six awards ($524 thousand), and Region 2 (Rocky Mountain Region) for one award ($105 thousand)—representing 100% of the vendor's recent award footprint across all three concentrations. This concentration reflects Austin Logging's operational focus: all sixteen prime awards fall under Support Activities for Forestry (NAICS, all awards) and Natural Resources/Conservation—Forest-Range Fire Suppression/Presuppression (PSC, all awards).

Austin Logging holds five active Indefinite Delivery Contracts through the National Interagency Fire Center and Forest Service regional offices. The largest vehicles are two multiple-award IDCs awarded February 6, 2026, each with $500 thousand ceilings and performance through May 2030 and April 2030 respectively—one procuring heavy equipment with water for Regions 1, 2, 4, and 9 (East Zone), the other for miscellaneous heavy equipment (feller bunchers, mulchers, road graders, skidders) across the same footprint. Earlier VIPR (Virtual Incident Procurement) I-BPA awards from May 2022 and April 2025 carry $250 thousand ceilings each. Recent delivery orders include a $112.4 thousand Total Small Business set-aside order placed August 13, 2026, against a Forest Service Region 1 IDC with completion by September 8, 2026, for firefighting equipment and personnel in Kamiah, Idaho, and a $104.6 thousand full-and-open delivery order from Region 2 (October 10, 2024) for the same equipment class in Wyoming.

Activity has accelerated recently—one award in 2022, one in 2024, then six in 2025 and three in 2026 year-to-date—with combined potential value across all awards of $2.5 million and only $505 thousand obligated to date (20% of ceiling). The vendor operates exclusively as a prime; no subcontract footprint appears in the source. Federal agencies with optional-use authorization on Austin Logging's contracts include the Department of Interior, National Park Service, and Bureau of Indian Affairs, though the source does not evidence awards from those agencies.