Gustafson Gerald

Gustafson Gerald, a veteran-owned small business sole proprietorship based in Bessemer, Michigan, provides timber marking, cruising, and volume estimation services to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service as a prime contractor under small-business set-asides and full-and-open competition. The vendor operates exclusively as a prime (100% of recent awards) across forestry and timber-management contracts, with no subcontract footprint.

Gustafson Gerald's customer base is highly concentrated in a single agency. The Department of Agriculture Forest Service Region 9 (Eastern Region) accounts for 59 of 64 total awards and $2.6 million of combined potential value (94% of awards by count and 99% of potential value), with one ancillary award from the Forest Service Northern Research Station. The vendor's geographic scope covers the Ottawa and Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forests in Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula, with work performed primarily near Glidden and Washburn, Wisconsin.

Gustafson Gerald's primary vehicle is a $2 million single-award Blanket Purchase Agreement with the Forest Service Region 9, awarded October 1, 2023, through November 15, 2028, which authorizes task orders between $4,000 and $16,000 covering 140 to 300 acres per order. Five task orders under this BPA carry $59 thousand in combined potential value. Individual BPA calls include a $13,112 order (May 1, 2024) for marking and cruising 298 acres of red pine plantation thinnings across thirteen cutting units, an $8,550 order (July 1, 2024) for timber marking and volume estimation on approximately 190 acres of red pine stands, and a $12,056 order (August 4, 2025) for 274 acres of red pine thinning on the Washburn Ranger District. Prior to the BPA vehicle, the vendor held a series of purchase orders and definitive contracts, including a $6,300 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act award (August 9, 2023) for marking and cruising 140 acres of hardwood selection. Set-aside designations split between total small business and no set-aside used across recent orders.

Activity has declined in recent years — five awards in 2022 declining to one in both 2025 and 2026 — with only two awards (combined potential value $25 thousand) completing inside the next twenty-four months. Combined potential value across all sixty-four awards totals $2.6 million, with $638 thousand obligated (24% of potential value), reflecting a vendor focused on task-order execution under a long-standing regional timber management relationship rather than pipeline growth. The vendor's NAICS concentration is timber tract operations (42 awards) and support activities for forestry (22 awards), with PSC coding dominated by natural resources and conservation site preparation and tree thinning.