Capitol Helicopters, Inc.

Capitol Helicopters, Inc., a woman-owned small disadvantaged business based in McClellan Park, California, operates as a prime contractor providing Type 1, 2, and 3 helicopter support services for wildland firefighting, search and rescue, and emergency response operations across the western United States and beyond. The company competes predominantly full-and-open, though it holds Total Small Business set-aside positions on selected indefinite delivery contracts and has benefited from its woman-owned and small disadvantaged business certifications on prior task orders.

Capitol Helicopters delivers concrete aerial firefighting and natural resource management capabilities: water drops, cargo transport, aerial ignition, air attack supervision, reconnaissance, personnel transport, and short-haul operations. Recent representative work includes a $7.1 million Total Small Business delivery order for a Libby, Montana base (May 2026 through December 2029), a $7.9 million Total Small Business delivery order for Boise, Idaho (May 2026 through December 2029), and a $4.3 million delivery order under the Type 3 Helicopter Support Services contract for Rolla, Missouri operations (February 2025 through December 2029).

Customer concentration is extreme: 107 of 114 awards (94% of total potential value of $268.4 million) flow to the Department of Agriculture Forest Service Fire and Aviation Management National Interagency Fire Center, with secondary positions at the Department of the Interior Interior Business Center ($49.5 million single multiple-award IDC), the U.S. Forest Service ($1.6 million), and the Bureau of Land Management Oregon-Washington ($2.3 million). The gap between award count and dollar concentration is minimal—NIFC dominates both metrics.

Capitol Helicopters holds four major parent indefinite delivery contracts with combined ceiling values exceeding $229.5 million. The Type 1 Helicopter Support Services contract (2025–2034, $50 million, awarded January 1, 2025) has generated 11 task orders worth $19.5 million. The Helicopter Support Services - Type 2 contract (through December 31, 2033, $50 million, awarded January 1, 2024) carries 7 task orders valued at $18.6 million. The Type 3 Helicopter Support Services contract (2023–2032, $80 million, awarded April 12, 2023) has spawned 11 task orders worth $11.3 million. The Department of the Interior's On-Call Type III Helicopter Flight Services vehicle (2022–2027, $49.5 million, awarded May 1, 2022, Total Small Business set-aside) provides a fourth major vehicle. A Basic Ordering Agreement (12024B20G5009) with NIFC carries 79 task orders valued at $30.4 million and appears to aggregate smaller-dollar call-when-needed work.

Activity peaked in 2023 (31 awards) and has moderated to 20 awards in 2025 and 8 awards through May 2026. Nine awards face completion within the next twenty-four months with combined potential value of $1.6 million—a low recompete cliff, reflecting Capitol Helicopters' established and long-term relationships with NIFC and interior agencies through contracts extending to 2034.

Service Contract Inventory data covering FY2022–FY2024 shows $6.4 million in SCI-reportable invoiced revenue ($3.3 million in FY2022, $3.1 million in FY2023, zero in FY2024), delivered by roughly 2.3 to 3.1 FTEs per fiscal year. On federal services contracts captured in SCI, government-paid rates ran around $605.66/hr median, with rates ranging from $484.04/hr (10th percentile) through $667.71/hr (90th percentile). SCI is a strict subset of Capitol Helicopters' federal services activity—it excludes goods, the broader helicopter delivery-order portfolio, and any non-federal revenue. The vendor operates entirely as a prime contractor on its federal footprint; across SCI-reportable contracts, subcontractor hours averaged zero percent of total labor hours, reflecting direct-delivery helicopter operations.

Capitol Helicopters' NAICS posture is split between Nonscheduled Chartered Freight Air Transportation (100 awards) and Nonscheduled Chartered Passenger Air Transportation (14 awards), with PSC coding concentrated on Natural Resources/Conservation - Forest-Range Fire Suppression/Presuppression (112 of 114 awards). The company competes as a self-certified small disadvantaged business and woman-owned small business without 8(a) certification, positioning it for small business set-asides and full-and-open competition where its certifications confer preference.