Bajada Ecology LLC

Bajada Ecology LLC, a small business partnership based in Ridgecrest, California, delivers desert tortoise population surveys, spatial analysis, statistical modeling, and ecological research services to the United States Geological Survey as a prime contractor, competing full-and-open with no set-aside designations across most of its footprint.

The vendor's customer concentration is absolute: all 19 awards and $646 thousand in combined potential value flow from a single customer, the Department of the Interior's USGS Office of Acquisitions and Grants, across purchase orders spanning ecological consulting and technical support services under NAICS 541620 (Environmental Consulting Services) and related scientific services codes. Bajada Ecology operates exclusively in the federal market as a prime contractor; the source contains no subcontract work.

Capability scope centers on desert tortoise conservation research and habitat analysis in the western Mojave Desert and surrounding regions. Representative awards include a $140.3 thousand firm-fixed-price purchase order for a Tortoise Chemehuevi Valley demographic and habitat survey in San Bernardino County, California (March 2024, small business set-aside); an $86.4 thousand small-business-set-aside purchase order for a tortoise population survey in Upper Ward Valley, San Bernardino County (March 2024); an $87.9 thousand purchase order for Chuckwalla Valley surveys (March 2023); and a $22 thousand Executive Order 14398 purchase order for advanced statistical modeling and spatial analysis of desert tortoise distribution, vegetation clustering, invasive species mapping, and human disturbance mapping at Onyx Ranch State Vehicle Recreation Area (September 2026). Deliverables typically include publication-quality maps, cluster analyses, shell analysis, demographic data collection following standardized protocols, and scientific manuscript preparation.

Activity has remained modest and episodic. The vendor received three awards in 2021, two in 2022, three in 2023, and five in 2024, with two awards in 2026. Two awards carrying combined potential value of $31 thousand face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, representing recompete opportunity. All awarded work to date is obligated at full contract ceiling value, with no performance backlog or partial obligation pattern. The vendor has not competed for or secured parent contract vehicles, GWACs, or agency-wide IDIQs — all work flows through direct purchase orders from the same USGS office.