Construction Helicopters, LLC

Construction Helicopters, LLC, doing business as Chi Aviation, operates as a veteran-owned small business prime contractor delivering specialized aviation services—heavy lift helicopter operations, aerial firefighting, military freefall and static line support, air ambulance services, aircraft readiness and maintenance, and smokejumper aircraft operations—to federal agencies across defense and civilian portfolios, with $11.05 billion in combined potential value across 112 prime awards (98% of its recent prime footprint) and two subcontract positions.

Chi Aviation is headquartered in Howell, Michigan, as a for-profit corporate entity and veteran-owned small business. The company competes exclusively full-and-open across its federal portfolio with no set-aside designations applied to the majority of awards; two small-business set-aside delivery orders (Department of the Army, Naval Sea Systems Command) represent exceptions. The vendor holds a named subsidiary, Helimax Aviation Inc., also veteran-owned.

Customer concentration splits between high-volume and high-dollar segments with material divergence. By award count, the top five customers account for 52% of recent awards: the Department of Agriculture Forest Service's National Interagency Fire Center (22 awards, $187.8 million combined potential value) leads volume, followed by U.S. Special Operations Command (13 awards, $659.3 million), the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (10 awards, $819 thousand), the Department of the Army Central Command (8 awards, $3.11 billion), and the Naval Air Warfare Center (6 awards, $139.3 million). By potential value, the top five shift dramatically: the Department of Defense U.S. Transportation Command anchors the portfolio at $5.7 billion across just two awards, followed by the Army Central Command ($3.11 billion across 8 awards), the Army Africa Command ($896.6 million across 2 awards), USSOCOM ($659.3 million across 13 awards), and the Air Force Air Mobility Command ($220.8 million across 4 awards). The two rankings reveal a vendor heavily weighted toward a small number of very large transportation and logistics programs alongside substantial recurring demand from special operations and wildland fire suppression customers.

Chi Aviation holds positions on multiple parent vehicles that anchor task-order activity. The Military Freefall and Static Line Support Services IDIQ with USSOCOM (multiple-award, $650 million ceiling, through August 2029) generates 17 task orders valued at $10.3 million combined. Additional significant vehicles include an indefinite delivery contract with Naval Air Warfare Center for helicopter services ($49.5 million single-award ceiling through June 2027); a $42 million single-award blanket purchase agreement with Air Force Air Mobility Command for air ambulance services (through September 2027); a $50 million multiple-award indefinite delivery contract with the National Interagency Fire Center for Type 1 Helicopter Support Services (through December 2029); a $50 million single-award small-business set-aside indefinite delivery contract with the National Interagency Fire Center for National Smokejumper Aircraft Services (through December 2034); a $14.001 million multiple-award indefinite delivery contract with the National Interagency Fire Center for National Light Fixed Wing Services (through December 2033); and government-wide OASIS+ positions—both OASIS+ Unrestricted (multiple-award, awarded September 2025, through September 2030) and OASIS+ Small Business (total small business set-aside, multiple-award, awarded December 2024, through December 2029). The vendor also holds positions on GSA's ASTRO platform-services vehicle (multiple-award, through November 2031) and a Federal Aviation Administration single-award indefinite delivery contract for Sikorsky S-61 pilot training (through September 2027).

Activity demonstrates relative stability year over year: 12 awards in 2022, 14 in 2023, 14 in 2024, declining to 5 in 2025 and 1 in 2026 year-to-date. Only $3.1 million in combined potential value reaches ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, indicating limited near-term recompete pressure across the footprint. The vendor's work focuses narrowly on air transportation and specialized aviation operations: the top three NAICS categories are Nonscheduled Chartered Passenger Air Transportation (38 awards), Nonscheduled Chartered Freight Air Transportation (32 awards), and Other Nonscheduled Air Transportation (26 awards). Corresponding PSC concentration runs to passenger air charter (42 awards) and forest-range fire suppression/presuppression (41 awards).

Service Contract Inventory captures only one record ($539 thousand invoiced in FY2023 across 0.4 FTEs)—a minimal slice reflecting the vendor's heavy reliance on goods (aircraft, equipment) and task-order-based delivery structures that fall outside SCI's $150,000 reporting threshold or represent government-furnished asset models. That single SCI contract carries a median government-paid rate around $618.61 per hour, but SCI reporting does not capture the vendor's broader federal revenue or workforce scale, which flow predominantly through equipment-intensive, per-flight-hour, or fixed-price delivery orders rather than labor-hour service contracts.

In its subcontractor role, Chi Aviation delivers aircraft maintenance and logistics support to Amentum Services, Inc. on Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC) base maintenance operations and AS350 aircraft support for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, representing material sub-engagement in specialized maintenance and sustainment.

CHI Aviation ("CHI") is a premier helicopter service provider with over 30 years experience delivering premium service to its customers. CHI's customers include large Oil and Gas producers, Department of Defense, US Forestry Service and others.