Carden, James S

Carden, James S — doing business as Carden Construction — is a sole proprietorship based in Eupora, Mississippi, that performs National Forest road maintenance, ditching, hazard tree removal, and related construction services for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service as a small business prime contractor, operating predominantly under full-and-open (non-set-aside) delivery orders against multiple award IDIQs, with one recent Total Small Business set-aside delivery order.

The vendor operates exclusively as a prime contractor (100% of recent awards), with no subcontract footprint. Its customer base is narrowly concentrated: the Department of Agriculture Forest Service Regional Office 8 (Southern Region) accounts for 66 of 94 total awards documented in the source (72% of awards, $7.8 million of combined potential value), working across multiple ranger districts in Mississippi including Tombigbee, Holly Springs, and Lafayette Springs. This concentration reflects sustained work on the same customer's core mission rather than diversification across federal agencies.

Carden Construction holds a $2 million Multiple Award IDIQ MATOC (Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity Multiple Award Task Order Contract, contract number 12445124D0004) for road maintenance and construction in the Mississippi National Forests North Zone, awarded on a Total Small Business set-aside basis with an ultimate completion date of April 30, 2027. The vendor shares this umbrella vehicle with four other small business contractors in the vendor pool. Five task orders under this MATOC carry a combined potential value of $247 thousand. The vendor also places work under four additional Forest Service IDIQs (contract numbers 12447U20D0010, AG447UC097000, AG447UC150027, and AG447UC150028), collectively generating 44 task orders and $1.1 million in combined potential value. Representative delivery orders include a $92,626 firm fixed price order for FY25 road maintenance across Holly Springs and Tombigbee National Forests (awarded May 28, 2024, completion April 1, 2026); a $60,499 delivery order for Holly Springs Ranger District FY24 road maintenance (awarded July 29, 2024, completion July 28, 2025); and a $35,997 Total Small Business set-aside delivery order for Tombigbee Ranger District road maintenance (awarded August 10, 2026, completion February 12, 2027).

Work is characterized across two NAICS categories — Highway, Street, and Bridge Construction (41 awards) and Support Activities for Forestry (39 awards) — and delivered under PSC codes for highway and road maintenance (37 awards) and forest and range improvements (14 awards). Activity has been episodic: seven awards in 2021, declining to two in 2022, then stabilizing at five awards per year in 2023 and 2024. Only one award has been issued in 2026 to date. Within the next twenty-four months, one award (combined potential value $36 thousand) reaches ultimate completion and faces potential recompete exposure. The vendor's combined potential value across all 94 awards stands at $8.4 million, with $2.3 million obligated to date (28% of potential value), reflecting the phased nature of delivery order execution against regional MATOC vehicles.