Hillcrest Aircraft Company

Hillcrest Aircraft Company, a self-certified small disadvantaged business based in Lewiston, Idaho, provides rotary and fixed-wing helicopter flight services to federal agencies as a prime contractor on wildland fire suppression, prescribed burn operations, aerial surveying, search and rescue, and natural resource management missions. The company operates 100% as a prime and self-performs all federal work without subcontractor engagement, competing across a mix of total small business set-asides and full-and-open vehicles.

Hillcrest's customer concentration is heavily weighted toward wildland fire and natural resource agencies. The top five customers by both award count and potential value account for 72% of recent awards and nearly 100% of combined potential value. The National Interagency Fire Center (part of the Department of Agriculture Forest Service Fire and Aviation Management) dominates both metrics, with 119 awards totaling $62.76 billion in combined potential value — a figure driven by legacy aerial firefighting contracts carrying placeholder ceilings rather than cash execution. The Department of the Interior Departmental Offices (Interior Business Center and Office of Policy Management and Budget) anchors $67.9 million and $56.6 million respectively in combined potential value across Type III helicopter and EU (exclusive-use) helicopter services. The Bureau of Land Management Idaho Region places 38 awards for $39 million (mostly fire suppression and prescribed burn operations), and the Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service places snow survey work. A secondary customer, the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, appears in 62 awards with no stated dollar magnitude; those records likely represent administrative or hearing support unrelated to aviation services.

Hillcrest holds five major parent vehicles through which it executes task orders. The Type 3 Helicopter Support Services 2023–2032 IDIQ (National Interagency Fire Center, $60 million ceiling through 2032) carries 26 task orders totaling $9.5 million in combined potential value. The Helicopter Support Services - Type 2 (National Interagency Fire Center, $50 million ceiling through 2033, awarded January 2024) carries 20 task orders worth $3.4 million. The On-Call Type III Helicopter Flight Services 2022–2027 (Department of the Interior Interior Business Center, $49.5 million ceiling, total small business set-aside, awarded May 1, 2022) supports multiple Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Geological Survey task orders. A single-award $4.6 million Type III EU (exclusive-use) helicopter services contract (Office of Policy Management and Budget, total small business set-aside, effective through April 2028, awarded February 2023) operates primarily at Vale, Oregon, with recent task orders through 2026 from the BLM and Interior. Hillcrest also holds smaller legacy and surge contracts: a $6 million T2 EU helicopter contract (National Interagency Fire Center, expired October 2022) and a $3.5 million EU helicopter legacy contract (National Interagency Fire Center, expired September 2022). A Basic Ordering Agreement 12024B20G5106 carries 37 task orders worth $2.6 million. Recent activity includes a new $12 million Type II helicopter services single-award set-aside (Office of Policy Management and Budget, effective through April 2030, awarded April 8, 2025) for operations in Burns, Oregon.

Recent awards show steady activity. In 2022 the vendor placed 21 awards; in 2023, 40; in 2024, 25; in 2025, 16; and in 2026, 24. Twenty-four awards with combined potential value of $5 million are scheduled for ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, representing moderate recompete exposure. Service Contract Inventory reporting shows that in FY2022, Hillcrest invoiced $3.9 million across 5.5 FTEs; FY2023, $5.7 million at 7.9 FTEs; FY2024, $3.7 million at 6.2 FTEs; and FY2025, $5.2 million at 8.3 FTEs. These figures reflect SCI-reportable service contracts above the $150,000 threshold only and exclude goods, products, and non-federal revenue. Government-paid hourly rates on SCI-reported service contracts ran around $308.90 per hour median, with a range from $242.41 per hour at the tenth percentile to $463.89 per hour for senior labor. Across all SCI-reportable prime contracts, Hillcrest self-performed 100% of contractor hours with no subcontractor labor share, consistent with its award-portfolio pattern of zero sub-awards.

Capability alignment is narrow and mission-focused. Representative recent work includes $547 thousand for on-call small helicopter flight services supporting Department of the Interior wildfire suppression (September 2026, delivery order under On-Call Type III IDIQ), $2.197 million for EU Type II helicopter support (May 2026, Department of the Interior Idaho Region, through October 2027), $1.83 million for Type 3 helicopter services at John Day, Oregon (February 2025, National Interagency Fire Center Type 3 IDIQ, through December 2029, with FY2025 SCI invoicing of $714 thousand at 1.3 FTEs), and $4.175 million for HSS MATOC Type 3 Coeur d'Alene and Crawfordville operations (January 2024, National Interagency Fire Center Type 3 IDIQ, through December 2028, with FY2024 SCI invoicing of $1.2 million at 2.4 FTEs and FY2025 invoicing of $1.3 million at the same staffing). Snow survey work with the Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service totals $35.45 thousand (January 2026). The vendor's NAICS profile reflects its narrowly specialized role: 153 of 261 primary awards carry NAICS 481212 (Nonscheduled Chartered Passenger Air Transportation); 108 carry 481213 (Nonscheduled Chartered Freight Air Transportation), reflecting dual-mission helicopter operations under which aircraft may be used for personnel transport or cargo lift on the same mission. A small number of awards (4 to 2) cite forestry support, geophysical surveying, and mapping services, indicating minor supplementary capability. The primary PSC codes reinforce fire and aviation focus: V192 (Passenger Air Charter) covers 190 awards; FF (Forest-Range Fire Suppression/Presuppression) covers 144 awards.

Helicopter forestry support, fire suppression, construction, power line patrol, seismic, charter.