G B Aerial Applications Inc.

G B Aerial Applications Inc., a for-profit organization based in Slaton, Texas, operates as a prime contractor providing single-engine air tanker (SEAT) and single-engine scooper (SES) flight services for wildland fire suppression and aerial firefighting to the federal government under small-business set-asides and full-and-open competition. The vendor operates exclusively as a prime (100% of recent awards) with no subcontractor role, and holds two substantial Bureau of Land Management IDIQs: a $400 million Total Small Business set-aside IDIQ for SEAT flight services running through April 2029, and a $237.5 million multiple-award IDIQ for SES flight services running through April 2031.

Customer concentration is extreme. The Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management Idaho Region accounts for 50 awards and $1.16 billion (99.1% of combined potential value) across G B Aerial's recent federal footprint. The remaining 22 awards ($6.5 million combined potential value) split among the Department of Agriculture Forest Service and its regional components, including a small set of orders from Forest Service R1-Northern Region, the Rocky Mountain Research Station, and the National Interagency Fire Center. This single-customer dependence reflects G B Aerial's dominant position as the on-ramp vendor to the BLM's SEAT and SES IDIQ suite. Work is performed at the vendor's operational base in Slaton, Texas and subordinate locations including Twin Falls, Idaho and Plains, Texas.

The SEAT IDIQ has issued three recent delivery orders: a $1.6 million firm fixed-price task order (Total Small Business set-aside) awarded June 17, 2026, for on-call SEAT flight services through April 2027; a $7.3 million firm fixed-price task order (Total Small Business set-aside) awarded July 16, 2025, for on-call SEAT flight services through April 2026; and a $3.06 million firm fixed-price task order (no set-aside) issued July 31, 2024, to the Montana-Dakotas Region for on-call SEAT flight services through April 2025. The SES IDIQ was awarded February 25, 2026, and includes a $500 minimum-guarantee task order, also firm fixed-price. Award activity has declined in recent years: four awards in 2022, one in 2023, two in 2024, one in 2025, and three in 2026 (through mid-June). Only one award ($1.6 million) has an ultimate completion date in the next twenty-four months, presenting minimal recompete cliff in the near term; however, both underlying IDIQs extend through 2029–2031 and represent the vessel for future task-order volume.

G B Aerial's SCI-reported federal service-contract invoicing totaled $4.7 million across FY2023–FY2024 (FY2022 recorded no SCI activity), with $2.4 million in FY2023 across 5.1 FTEs and $2.3 million in FY2024 across 2.9 FTEs. On federal services contracts captured in SCI, median government-paid rates ran around $257.50 per hour, with senior labor pricing reaching $770.57 per hour. The vendor performs all work directly with no subcontractor engagement (0% average sub-hours share across prime contracts). Primary NAICS activity splits between Nonscheduled Chartered Freight Air Transportation (37 awards) and Support Activities for Forestry (29 awards), with PSC activity concentrated in Passenger Air Charter services and Aircraft Lease/Rental operations.

Firefighting, forest, Support Activities for Forestry, Nonscheduled Chartered Freight Air Transportation