Fousts Inc.

Fousts Inc., a for-profit Subchapter S corporation based in Bonners Ferry, Idaho, provides heavy equipment rental services to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service as a small business prime contractor, competing 100% under total small business set-asides across Virtual Incident Procurement (VIPR) Indefinite Blanket Purchase Agreement vehicles for wildland fire suppression, all-hazard incident response, and forest management operations.

Fousts Inc. operates exclusively as a prime contractor with no subcontract footprint. The vendor's capability portfolio centers on rental and deployment of specialized heavy equipment including excavators, dozers, skidders, tractor plows, mulcher/masticators, and water-capable equipment to support time-sensitive wildfire suppression, fuels reduction, and emergency response across western Forest Service regions. Recent representative work includes a $69,263 firm fixed-price delivery order awarded July 9, 2026, by Forest Service Region 1 for heavy equipment rental supporting fire suppression across Regions 1, 2, and related areas; a $34,800 delivery order from August 22, 2026, under a total small business IDIQ for equipment supporting wildland fire management in Regions 1 and 4; and a $136,258 delivery order from September 5, 2022, for equipment deployment in Libby, Montana.

Customer concentration is monolithic. The Department of Agriculture Forest Service accounts for 100% of awards across two primary touchpoints: Region 1 (Northern Region) holds 70 awards with $3 million combined potential value, and Fire and Aviation Management's National Interagency Fire Center holds 25 awards with $4.6 million combined potential value. The rankings diverge markedly by dollar value — the National Interagency Fire Center anchors 59% of combined potential value ($4.6 million of $7.8 million) despite representing only 24% of award count, signaling that IDV ceiling values are larger than individual regional task-order call values.

Fousts Inc. holds eight active VIPR I-BPA IDV positions, all issued since May 2022 with ceiling values of $250,000 to $500,000 each. Five IDVs are dated February 6, 2026, covering heavy equipment task forces, heavy equipment with water capabilities, and miscellaneous equipment across Regions 1, 2, 4, and 9 under total small business set-asides; two are dated May 2025 and May 2024 with $250,000 ceilings for heavy equipment and water-capable equipment; one earlier IDV dated June 1, 2023, carries a $250,000 ceiling for heavy equipment across Regions 1, 2, 4, and 9 with completion through June 1, 2028. These vehicles function as the operational backbone: the top five parent vehicles account for 69 task orders and $2.1 million combined potential value. All IDVs permit optional use by interagency cooperators including the Department of Interior, National Park Service, and Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Activity has contracted sharply. The vendor moved 19 awards in 2022 and 17 in 2023, dropped to 4 in 2024 and 4 in 2025, and has returned to 8 in 2026 through August. Combined potential value across all 103 awards (dating to 2007) stands at $7.8 million, with $3 million obligated to date — a 38% commitment rate typical of small IDV vehicles with irregular task-order burn. The recent rebound to 8 awards in 2026 reflects new IDV awards in February 2026, suggesting pipeline restoration after the 2024–2025 trough.

Place of performance concentrates in Dalton Gardens, Idaho (Fousts Inc.'s division location), with secondary performance sites in Libby, Montana, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and other western Forest Service regional locations. The vendor's NAICS footprint is 100 awards under Support Activities for Forestry (NAICS 561730), with PSC coding concentrated in Natural Resources and Conservation — Forest-Range Fire Suppression and Presuppression. Fousts Inc. does not appear on other federal agencies' contract awards, GSA Schedules, or government-wide acquisition vehicles outside the USDA Forest Service.