Chris Harner Excavating

Chris Harner Excavating, a self-certified small disadvantaged business and sole proprietorship based in Ozark, Illinois, performs road construction, maintenance, and infrastructure repair services for the USDA Forest Service as a prime contractor exclusively — 100% of its 79 recent awards are prime contracts and indefinite delivery vehicles, with no subcontract engagement. The company has maintained a federal contracting relationship with the Forest Service since 2004 and specializes in excavation, earthmoving, culvert replacement, bridge repair, and erosion control across approximately 125 miles of national forest roads in the Eastern Region.

Customer concentration with the USDA Forest Service is near-total. The Department of Agriculture Forest Service Region 9 (Eastern Region) accounts for 64 awards and $6.9 million of the combined $7.5 million potential value across all awards (82% by count, 95% by dollars); a single award from the USDA Forest Service Washington Office Economic Recovery Operations Center East rounds out the vendor's named customer set. NAICS coding reflects the forestry-focused portfolio: Support Activities for Forestry (48 awards), Highway, Street, and Bridge Construction (22 awards), and Landscaping Services (4 awards). PSC coding centers on natural resources conservation and road maintenance.

Vehicle position centers on five single-award indefinite delivery contracts with the Eastern Region. The two largest vehicles, both awarded in August 2024 at $1.54 million ceiling each, are for road maintenance on the Shawnee National Forest's Mississippi Bluffs and Hidden Springs Ranger Districts respectively, running through August 2029 with five-year base plus four one-year option periods. Three older IDIQs (AG51A8C120002, 1251A819D0001, and AG51A8C150004) carry 13, 11, and 10 task orders respectively and represent the vehicle workload from 2024 backward. A multiple-award Blanket Purchase Agreement for Northeast Zone Region 9 roads construction, valued at $250,000 and running through March 2032, supported a $95,900 task order for bridge footing repairs near Brookport, Illinois. Recent representative awards include a $565,098 definitive contract (May 2026) for Bell Smith Springs repaving and parking area improvements at Shawnee National Forest under a total small business set-aside, where Chris Harner Excavating's bid was the lowest among eight respondents; a $26,677 delivery order (September 2025) for Mississippi Bluff Spring Road maintenance; and multiple prior-year task orders for Hidden Springs road maintenance and culvert replacement in the $9,700–$49,100 range.

Activity has remained flat to declining over the past five years — five awards in 2024, one in 2025, and one in 2026 — and represents completion of task orders under existing IDIQs rather than new procurements. Only one award ($565,098) reaches ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, presenting minimal recompete exposure in that window. The vendor obligated $2.4 million of the $7.5 million combined potential value (33%), reflecting steady draw-down against its standing vehicles. Chris Harner Excavating does not hold seats on government-wide vehicles (GWACs, Alliant, OASIS) or multi-agency IDIQs; its entire federal footprint rests on single-award Forest Service contracts executed regionally, creating high customer concentration and limited cross-agency leverage.

The company can perform road blading and shaping, roadside mowing and brushing, remove debris from plugged culverts, bridges, ditches and disposal off forest land. Culvert replacement that includes removal,installation, grading, armoring, traffic control, seeding nd mulching. Road surfacing repairs that include gravel and pavement replacement. Clearing right of way of large trees, adding approved fill to meet appropriate grade, remove existing oil and chipped surface by milling and scarifying, mechanical compaction, oil and chip final road template.