Guardian Helicopters Inc.

Guardian Helicopters Inc., a for-profit Subchapter S corporation based in Fillmore, California, provides aerial firefighting, wildland fire suppression, search and rescue, wildlife survey, and emergency response helicopter services to federal civilian agencies as a prime contractor with no set-aside designations. The vendor operates exclusively as a prime on 141 federal awards (100% of portfolio) with no subcontractor relationships and competes in full-and-open contracting; the company maintains FAA-compliant Type I, II, and III rotorcraft with operational bases across the western United States, including Fillmore and Lancaster, California; Prescott and Yuma, Arizona; Vale, Oregon; Pioche, Nevada; and other western locations.

Customer concentration is acute and skewed toward fire-suppression demand. The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), operating under the Department of Agriculture Forest Service, anchors the portfolio: 65 awards valued at $169.9 million combined potential value represent 46% of all awards and 52% of total portfolio value. The top five customers by value (NIFC, Interior Business Center, OPMC, BLM Idaho Region, and Forest Service R8) account for 98% of combined potential value. The Department of the Interior Interior Business Center and its subordinate components place 31 awards (22% of volume) for $152.1 million combined potential value, split between $83.8 million through the Interior Business Center and $40 million through the Office of Policy Management and Budget. BLM regions (Idaho, Nevada, Utah, and California) collectively issue 40 awards for $31.5 million. This concentration reflects Guardian Helicopters' operational footprint in western fire-prone regions and the seasonal spike in federal wildland-fire contracting.

Guardian Helicopters holds positions on five named parent vehicles anchoring recurring task-order activity. The $50 million Helicopter Support Services - Type 2 IDIQ (NIFC, through December 31, 2033) carries nine task orders worth $9.7 million. The $40 million Type 3 Helicopter Support Services 2023–2032 IDIQ (NIFC, through December 31, 2032) carries 11 task orders valued at $3.7 million. The $49.5 million On-Call Type III Helicopter Flight Services 2022–2027 IDIQ (Interior Business Center, total small business set-aside, through April 30, 2027) carries multiple task orders supporting fire, search and rescue, and communications missions across Interior regions. Guardian Helicopters also holds a $11 million Blanket Purchase Agreement for Type III helicopter flight services supporting Animal Capture, Eradication, and Tagging of Animals and Wild Horse and Burro programs (Interior Business Center, small business set-aside, through April 30, 2030). Additional vehicles include the 12024B20G5021 BOA (18 task orders, $5.5 million) and 1202SA21G5509 BOA (15 task orders, $1.6 million). Representative work includes a $2.615 million firm fixed-price delivery order (May 1, 2024, NIFC Type 3 IDIQ) for exclusive Type III helicopter services in Prescott, Arizona through December 31, 2028; a $1.854 million delivery order (June 14, 2023, NIFC, total small business set-aside) for Type 2 surge support in Grangeville, Idaho through December 31, 2023; a $1.498 million delivery order (May 23, 2023, NIFC, total small business set-aside) for Type 2 surge support in Durango, Colorado through December 31, 2023; and a $513 thousand delivery order (February 5, 2025, BLM Idaho Region) for on-call Type 2 helicopter services through December 18, 2025.

Award activity peaked in 2023 (28 awards) and 2022 (24 awards) before declining sharply to six awards in 2024 and four in 2025, though 2026 rebounded to 17 awards through September. The recompete cliff over the next twenty-four months carries minimal near-term exposure: only one award (combined potential value $10 thousand) completes inside the window, reflecting the multi-year structure of NIFC and Interior IDIQs and the extended option periods on those vehicles. However, the sharp decline in 2024–2025 awards signals either seasonal contract award timing or reduced task-order call activity during that period.

Service Contract Inventory captures minimal federal service-contract activity above the $150,000 reporting threshold — 15 SCI records across FY2022–FY2025 with total invoiced revenue of $2.7 million. SCI-reported FTE delivery ranged from 0.8 FTEs in FY2022 to 0.1 FTEs in FY2025, reflecting the contract-labor or equipment-rental nature of helicopter-services billing rather than direct staffing; government-paid hourly rates on prime SCI records ran from $423 per hour at the 10th percentile to $1,086 per hour at the 90th percentile, with a median of $425 per hour. The vendor reports zero sub-hours across SCI prime contracts, confirming direct delivery of flight crew and aircraft operations without material subcontractor engagement. SCI invoicing accounted for less than 1% of the vendor's combined potential value, indicating that the bulk of helicopter services are structured as delivery orders, BPA calls, and task orders priced by the flight hour or mission rather than by labor hours; the modest SCI footprint reflects Guardian Helicopters' positioning as an equipment provider rather than a labor-intensive service vendor.

The vendor's federal footprint is concentrated in NAICS 481211 (Nonscheduled Chartered Passenger Air Transportation) — 83 of 135 classified awards — and 481212 (Nonscheduled Chartered Freight Air Transportation) — 51 awards — aligned with aerial firefighting and emergency-transport missions. Primary PSC codes are natural-resources fire-suppression (67 awards) and passenger air charter (49 awards). All prime awards operate under no set-aside designation, indicating Guardian Helicopters competes in unrestricted federal markets alongside larger helicopter operators and does not rely on 8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB, or WOSB status; the vendor's small-business set-aside designation appears on select Interior IDIQs and BPA vehicles but not on the vendor's own prime awards in the source data.