Brandon T Bakken

Brandon T Bakken, doing business as Castle Mountain Fire, a Montana-based sole proprietorship, provides wildland fire suppression equipment and services to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service as a prime contractor exclusively under total small business set-asides. The company supplies water tenders, fire engines, heavy equipment including dozers and excavators, feller bunchers, skidders, and trained personnel for emergency response operations across Forest Service regions nationwide.

Castle Mountain Fire's customer footprint is highly concentrated in the Forest Service. The top five funding entities account for 75% of awards by count and 84% by combined potential value. The Department of Agriculture Forest Service Fire and Aviation Management National Interagency Fire Center leads by dollar value, with 43 awards worth $7.5 million combined potential value, while the Forest Service Region 1 (Northern Region) dominates by award count with 119 awards valued at $6 million. Region 4 (Intermountain), Region 5 (Pacific Southwest), and Region 2 (Rocky Mountain) follow in volume and value. All major customers are Forest Service entities—Bakken operates exclusively within one agency across its nine federal regions and the National Interagency Fire Center.

Bakken holds a substantial portfolio of Indefinite Delivery Contracts under the Forest Service's Virtual Incident Procurement (VIPR) program. The five largest parent vehicles account for most task order activity: IDC 1202SB22T7190 carries 84 task orders worth $4.9 million; IDC 1202SB25T7638 carries 51 task orders worth $2.9 million; IDC 12034319T7014 carries 39 task orders worth $1.8 million; IDC 1202SB22T7444 carries 20 task orders worth $928 thousand; and BPA AG0343B167012 carries 17 task orders worth $1.5 million. Multiple award IDCs awarded February through June 2025 and June 2023 establish $250,000 to $500,000 ceiling values each across regional service categories—water handling, heavy equipment with water, miscellaneous heavy equipment, and heavy equipment for specific Forest Service zones (East and West zones). All IDVs and their task orders carry total small business set-aside designations and firm fixed-price structures, with performance periods extending through 2028–2030. The contracts permit optional use by the Department of Interior, National Park Service, and Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Activity has grown modestly and consistently. Bakken received 30 awards in 2022, 25 in 2023, 57 in 2024, 50 in 2025, and 51 through mid-October 2026, reflecting 344 awards across the source snapshot. Combined potential value across all awards reaches $24.2 million, with $16.2 million obligated to date (67% of potential value). Awards span delivery orders ranging from $3,100 to $458,432 in individual ceiling value, with most falling between $20,000 and $100,000. Nearly all work is categorized under NAICS 561730 (Support Activities for Forestry), with a secondary presence in PSC Natural Resources/Conservation–Forest-Range Fire Suppression/Presuppression.

Bakken operates as a sole proprietor with no subcontractor relationships in the source data—all 344 awards are prime contracts. The company has maintained continuous federal contracting presence with the Forest Service since System for Award Management registration in 2004, positioning it as an established regional vendor in the wildland fire suppression and emergency incident response market. Performance locations span Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, California, Oregon, Washington, Utah, and Arizona—comprehensive coverage of Forest Service footprint. The concentrated reliance on a single agency, mandatory total small business set-aside posture, and exclusive focus on fire suppression equipment and personnel delivery define both the stability and the market scope of Castle Mountain Fire's federal business model.