Backwoods Equipment , Inc.

Backwoods Equipment, Inc., a veteran-owned small business based in Gerber, California, provides heavy equipment rental and certified operator services to the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management as a prime contractor exclusively — all 17 recent federal awards are prime positions. The vendor is also a service-disabled veteran-owned business (SDVOSB) and holds a Department of Transportation Certified Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) designation. Backwoods Equipment competes predominantly under small business set-asides, with six of its awards issued under Total Small Business designations and the remainder under no set-aside or simplified acquisition procedures.

Backwoods Equipment's capability portfolio centers on heavy equipment for wildfire suppression, forestry management, and emergency incident response. The vendor supplies dozers, excavators, feller bunchers, mulchers, masticators, road graders, and skidders, along with certified operators, to support federal land management operations. Representative work includes a $156,770 delivery order from the U.S. Forest Service Region 6 (Pacific Northwest Region) in July 2026 for heavy equipment and operator services at Sandy, Oregon, a $145,763 delivery order from Region 5 (Pacific Southwest Region) in September 2025 for dozer and excavator services in Clovis, California, and a $94,440 delivery order also from Region 5 in August 2025. The vendor also holds three significant Indefinite Delivery Contracts, each valued at $250,000, with the National Interagency Fire Center covering the East Zone (Regions 1, 2, 4, and 9), West Zone (Regions 5 and 6), and miscellaneous heavy equipment for Region 5, all running through 2028–2029 under firm fixed-price terms and Total Small Business set-asides. Two additional IDCs worth $500,000 each were awarded in February 2026 for the same regional coverage.

Customer concentration is heavily concentrated with the Department of Agriculture's Forest Service and its subordinate components. The National Interagency Fire Center accounts for six awards valued at $2.3 million combined potential value; Forest Service Region 5 (Pacific Southwest) holds five awards worth $405,000; Region 6 (Pacific Northwest) holds three awards worth $277,000; and the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management Idaho Region holds two awards worth $111,000. Combined, these four agencies represent 100% of recent awards by both count and potential value. Activity has grown from three awards in 2023 to seven in 2026, with combined potential value across all awards at $3.1 million and $845,000 obligated to date. Place of performance spans Reno, Nevada; Sandy, Oregon; Grass Valley, California; Boise, Idaho; Clovis, California; and Medford, Oregon, with administrative oversight rooted in the National Interagency Fire Center's regional dispatch structure and Forest Service regional offices.