Curlew Water Works

Curlew Water Works, a for-profit partnership based in Charlo, Montana, supplies Type 2 water tenders and associated crews for wildland fire suppression and all-hazard incident response to the U.S. Forest Service as a prime contractor under small business set-asides and full-and-open delivery orders. The vendor operates exclusively as a prime (100% of awards) and competes across both Total Small Business set-aside and unrestricted vehicles, with recent work concentrated in the USDA Forest Service's Virtual Incident Procurement (VIPR) system for Incident Blanket Purchase Agreements (I-BPAs) across Forest Service Regions 1, 2, 4, 8, and 9.

Curlew Water Works' customer footprint is highly concentrated. Two USDA Forest Service sub-organizations account for 100% of awards: the Region 1–Northern Region (23 awards, $724 thousand combined potential value) and the Fire and Aviation Management National Interagency Fire Center (6 awards, $1.1 million combined potential value). All 29 awards fall under NAICS 541613 (Support Activities for Forestry) and PSC code Natural Resources/Conservation–Forest-Range Fire Suppression/Presuppression. Recent representative delivery orders include a $31,900 Total Small Business order issued August 12, 2026, by Forest Service Region 1 for water handling services supporting fire suppression (ultimate completion September 2, 2026), a $13,050 Total Small Business call against an I-BPA issued July 26, 2026, by Region 1, and a $23,200 firm fixed-price delivery order issued July 20, 2024, also from Region 1 for Type 2 water tenders and crews.

Curlew Water Works holds three active Indefinite Delivery Contracts: a $500,000 Total Small Business IDC awarded February 6, 2026, by the National Interagency Fire Center for water handling across East Zone Regions 1, 2, 4, and 9 (ultimate completion May 30, 2030), a $250,000 Total Small Business IDC awarded May 30, 2025, by the National Interagency Fire Center for the same regions (ultimate completion May 30, 2030), and a $250,000 small business set-aside IDC awarded May 31, 2022, by the Forest Service for Regions 1, 2, 4, 8, and 9 (ultimate completion May 30, 2025). Task orders flow through these vehicles via the VIPR system, with the largest parent vehicle in the portfolio being Blanket Purchase Agreement AG0343B167049, which has issued 8 task orders worth $185 thousand in combined potential value.

Activity has accelerated modestly in recent years — one award per year in 2021 and 2022, then four awards in 2025 and three in 2026 — though the combined potential value of $1.8 million across 29 awards remains small. The vendor operates with tight margins: only $262 thousand of the $1.8 million potential value has been obligated (15%), reflecting the on-call, task-order-driven nature of incident response contracting. Curlew Water Works serves no sub-contractors and holds no parent company relationships in the source data.

We provide support for fire with our 4300 gallon capacity water tender