Dakota Helicopter Air Services, Inc.

Dakota Helicopter Air Services, Inc., a small-business Subchapter S corporation based in Beulah, North Dakota, provides helicopter-based aerial herbicide application and invasive species management services as a prime contractor to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the National Park Service, competing under total small business set-asides on a portfolio of single-award indefinite delivery contracts and delivery orders.

Dakota Helicopter operates exclusively as a prime contractor (100% of awards) across a geographically concentrated customer base in the Northern Great Plains. The vendor's core capability is precision aerial chemical application for vegetation control on federal lands, infrastructure, and waterways using helicopter-based techniques to treat Canada thistle, leafy spurge, Russian knapweed, saltcedar, mullein, and other invasive species across terrain inaccessible to ground vehicles. Recent representative work includes a $79,982.50 delivery order from the Army Corps of Engineers (ENDIST Omaha) awarded June 1, 2026, for aerial herbicide application on approximately 1,495 acres of Canada thistle at the Oahe Project in Fort Pierre, South Dakota, with completion by November 30, 2026; a $296,925 purchase order from ENDIST Omaha awarded August 19, 2025, for aerial vegetation control across four Missouri River reaches in North Dakota, Nebraska, and South Dakota; a $575,600 single-award indefinite delivery contract awarded by the National Park Service Midwest Region on September 6, 2024, for aerial spraying services at Badlands and Wind Cave National Parks through December 5, 2027; and a $1.9 million small-business set-aside indefinite delivery contract from ENDIST Omaha (July 27, 2023, through September 30, 2028) for aerial chemical application services across federal lands in the three states.

Customer concentration is heavily weighted to the Department of the Army Corps of Engineers. The top three funding entities account for 90% of awards: ENDIST Omaha (43 awards, $8.1 million combined potential value), the National Park Service Midwest Region (38 awards, $4 million combined potential value), and the broader Army Corps of Engineers entity (29 awards, $4.6 million combined potential value). The vendor holds four active single-award indefinite delivery vehicles: the $1.9 million ENDIST Omaha aerial chemical application contract (11 task orders issued, $829 thousand combined potential value); the $575,600 NPS contract for Badlands and Wind Cave Parks (running through December 2027); a $1 million ENDIST Omaha vegetation control contract for the Oahe Project (running through July 31, 2027); and a closed $198,000 NPS contract for Badlands and Wind Cave Parks (expired June 7, 2024). Recent activity has slowed from seven awards in 2022 and six awards each in 2023 and 2024 to two awards in 2025 and one award in 2026, with minimal recompete exposure—only one award (valued at $80 thousand) reaching ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months. Across the portfolio of 127 awards, combined potential value reaches $17.1 million with obligated dollars of $5.8 million (34% obligated), and the vendor's NAICS footprint centers on soil preparation, planting, and cultivating (92 awards) with secondary work in landscaping and pest control services, aligned to PSC code 77 for natural resources and conservation aerial fertilization and spraying.