Columbia River Bar Pilots, LLC

Columbia River Bar Pilots, LLC, doing business as Saddle Mountain, operates as a limited liability partnership providing specialized pilotage and navigational services to federal maritime customers, primarily as a prime contractor (90% of recent awards) on federal vessel transit and drydock operations. Founded in 1846, the company specializes in navigating vessels through the Columbia River Bar, one of the world's most hazardous river entrances, and brings extensive experience in federal maritime operations. The vendor is undesignated for SBA set-asides and competes full-and-open across its federal footprint.

Columbia River Bar Pilots concentrates nearly exclusively on naval and maritime customers. The top five funding agencies account for 92% of recent awards, led by the Department of the Navy Naval Sea Systems Command (20 awards, $166 thousand combined potential value), followed by the Department of the Navy Military Sealift Command (13 awards), the Department of Homeland Security US Coast Guard (9 awards, $36 thousand combined potential value), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (4 awards, $16 thousand combined potential value), and the Army. The vendor's award volume skews low — 52 awards across a twenty-five-year span — but individual purchase orders for pilotage services run small (typical ceiling values under $10 thousand per transit). Representative prime work includes a $7,149 purchase order from the Coast Guard on July 1, 2026, for pilot services during CGC Healy drydock transit in Seattle, Washington, a $6,880 Coast Guard purchase order from January 2026 for identical services, and a $8,913 NOAA purchase order from February 2023 for pilot services supporting Columbia River Bar operations. The vendor's five subcontract awards, all issued since late 2023, route through Vigor Marine LLC on fiscal-year overhaul and drydocking availability for Navy surface combatants (USNS Guadalupe, USNS Matthew Perry, USS John S McCain, USNS Henry J Kaiser) and carry inbound and outbound bar pilot transit and surcharge scope.

Columbia River Bar Pilots places task orders across five Navy indefinite delivery contracts, with the highest volume under IDC N0040609D9040 (5 task orders, $17 thousand combined potential value) and N0040602D5013 (3 task orders, $75 thousand combined potential value). Recent activity is sparse but consistent — one award in 2024, three in 2025, and two in the first half of 2026 — reflecting episodic federal vessel transits and drydocking events rather than sustained program management. The vendor's service footprint is geographically bound to the Pacific Northwest, with place-of-performance concentrated in Seattle, Washington and the Columbia River region. Combined obligated dollars ($327 thousand) exceed combined potential value ($247 thousand) across the source dataset, a signal that purchase order awards are frequently closed or invoiced above ceiling, typical of firm fixed-price maritime pilot services where transit complexity varies.