Brian Cahoon

Brian Cahoon, doing business as Gray Wolf Contracting, is a sole proprietor providing wildland firefighting equipment and emergency response services to the U.S. Forest Service and the National Interagency Fire Center as a prime contractor under total small business set-asides and full-and-open delivery orders. Gray Wolf Contracting holds SBA certifications as a HUBZone firm, a small disadvantaged business, a minority-owned business, and an American Indian-owned (federally recognized tribal) enterprise, based in Charlo, Montana. The vendor competes under both set-aside and full-and-open designations; recent awards show a mixed posture, with roughly two-thirds of 2026 delivery orders carrying total small business set-aside designations and one-third awarded without set-aside.

Gray Wolf Contracting's customer concentration is nearly monolithic: the Department of Agriculture Forest Service accounts for all 85 awards in the source, dominating both by award count and by potential value. Within USDA Forest Service, the National Interagency Fire Center anchors the dollar base with 25 awards (combined potential value $4.8 million), while the Northern Region (Region 1) drives volume with 38 awards (combined potential value $2.1 million). The Pacific Southwest Region (Region 5), Intermountain Region (Region 4), and Pacific Northwest Region (Region 6) comprise the remaining active customer set at smaller scales. All work falls under the single NAICS code 541712 (Support Activities for Forestry) and PSC Natural Resources/Conservation (Forest-Range Fire Suppression/Presuppression).

Recent capability work demonstrates standardized delivery-order patterns. Representative examples include a $172,500 August 2026 delivery order from Forest Service Region 6 (Pacific Northwest) for wildland firefighting equipment and emergency response resources, place of performance Sandy, Oregon; a $143,503 July 2026 delivery order from Region 2 (Rocky Mountain) for specialized equipment with ultimate completion in Delta, Colorado; and a $109,250 July 2026 delivery order from Region 4 (Intermountain) for Type 3 and Type 6 engines, skidgines, and water handling vehicles, place of performance Price, Utah. Smaller orders ($15,000 to $90,000) appear frequently across all regions, indicating consistent steady-state demand. The vendor supplies Type 3 and Type 6 wildland firefighting engines, water handling vehicles (pumper trucks, softtracks), heavy equipment with water capabilities (feller bunchers, mulchers, road graders, skidders), and trained personnel to support fire suppression, all-hazard incident response, and prescribed project work.

Activity has grown substantially year over year — three awards in 2022 to eighteen in 2024 — with a recent pace of seventeen awards in 2026 (through August) and nine in 2025. Combined potential value sits at $8.3 million across eighty-five awards, with $3.2 million obligated (38% of ceiling). The recompete cliff is material: awards reaching ultimate completion in the next twenty-four months total substantial value under the active IDCs, particularly the eight National Interagency Fire Center multiple-award IDIQs awarded in February 2025 and May-June 2025, each carrying $250,000 to $500,000 ceilings through 2028–2030.

Gray Wolf Contracting holds a significant position on eight parent National Interagency Fire Center Indefinite Delivery Contracts, all designated as total small business set-asides and structured as Virtual Incident Procurement (VIPR) Incident Blanket Purchase Agreements. The top parent vehicles by task-order count are IDIQ 1202SB22T7215 (21 task orders, $1.1 million combined potential value), IDIQ 12034319T7033 (14 task orders, $497 thousand), and IDIQ 1202SB26T7279 (7 task orders, $430 thousand). These IDCs cover heavy equipment task forces, heavy equipment with water capabilities, water handling equipment, and miscellaneous heavy equipment across East Zone Regions 1, 2, 4, and 9, with performance periods extending to 2028–2030. The vendor does not subcontract; one hundred percent of its award portfolio is prime work.

Gray Wolf Contracting's federal footprint is narrowly focused: all work funds wildland fire suppression and emergency response for a single agency customer ecosystem. The vendor's competitive posture relies on HUBZone and small disadvantaged business certifications for set-aside eligibility on the VIPR I-BPA vehicles, which enable rapid on-call procurement during fire season. Recent year-over-year growth and the extended performance periods on eight concurrent IDCs indicate established operational fit with the Forest Service's incident procurement model, though the vendor's exposure to recompete risk is concentrated in a single customer category and geographic focus (U.S. Forest Service, primarily Western regions).

The business is capable of suppression of wildland fires, logging, thinning, trail maintenance.