JL Aviation, Inc.

JL Aviation, Inc., a veteran-owned small business based in Boring, Oregon, provides on-call Type III helicopter flight services to the Department of the Interior as a prime contractor, specializing in aerial survey and transport for wildlife population monitoring, natural resource management, wildland fire operations, and search-and-rescue missions across the Pacific Northwest and intermountain West.

JL Aviation is a for-profit Subchapter S corporation and VOSB with no SBA 8(a) or HUBZone certifications. The vendor operates entirely as a prime contractor (100% of awards), competing predominantly under total small business set-asides on the Department of the Interior's master IDIQ vehicles. Primary NAICS codes are 481211 (nonscheduled chartered passenger air transportation) and 481212 (nonscheduled chartered freight air transportation), with PSC 481211 (passenger air charter) dominating the portfolio.

JL Aviation's capability footprint centers on Type III helicopter operations—fixed-wing and rotary-wing aerial survey, wildlife census flights, external load training, bighorn sheep and sage-grouse population monitoring, wild horse reconnaissance, and burro surveys. Representative work includes a $75,436 delivery order from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Water Resources Division for Cascades Range monitoring in Washington and Oregon, awarded March 31, 2026; a $108,806 BPA call from the Fish and Wildlife Service for sage-grouse comprehensive survey at Sheldon-Hart National Wildlife Refuge, awarded July 20, 2023; and a $67,477 delivery order from the Fish and Wildlife Service for Sheldon Hart big-game survey support, awarded May 18, 2023. Most recent award activity includes a $17,470 Hart Mountain National Wildlife Refuge bighorn sheep survey order placed July 20, 2026, with ultimate completion March 31, 2027.

Customer concentration is heavily weighted to Interior and Forest Service agencies. The Department of the Interior Interior Business Center accounts for $73 million of the combined potential value across eight awards; the Department of the Interior Office of Policy Management and Budget anchors $40.1 million across two awards (the two master IDIQ vehicles with ceilings of $49.5 million and $3.5 million). The top five customer lines by dollar value cover 98% of combined potential value. By award count, the Fish and Wildlife Service Region 1 (11 awards) and USGS (10 awards) lead among operating divisions, but the Interior Business Center's two master IDIQs drive the majority of task-order volume and dollars.

JL Aviation holds two active prime IDIQ positions: the $49.5 million On-Call Type III Helicopter Flight Services 2022–2027 contract set aside for total small business (awarded May 1, 2022, expiring April 30, 2027), which has generated 14 recorded task orders worth $646 thousand; and a $3.5 million USDA Forest Service indefinite delivery contract for wildland fire operations (awarded November 27, 2021, expired January 6, 2024). A predecessor DOI On-Call Helicopter Flight Services 2017–2018 IDIQ generated 20 task orders worth $758 thousand. Task-order activity spans performance locations in Boring, Plush, and Vale, Oregon; Cathlamet, Castle Rock, and Vancouver, Washington; and Madras, Oregon, with work supporting USGS volcanic and hydrological monitoring, FWS wildlife census missions, BLM wild-horse management, and Bureau of Indian Affairs reservation management across the Pacific Northwest and intermountain regions.

Activity has declined from seven awards in 2022 to two in 2026 year-to-date. Only two awards (combined potential value $93 thousand) face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, presenting minimal near-term recompete exposure. JL Aviation does not subcontract; all work is internally executed. The vendor's federal portfolio spans 103 awards dating to 1999, with combined potential value of $125.7 million and combined obligated dollars of $5.1 million (4% of potential value), indicating that most awards remain unexercised or under-exercised task-order vehicles rather than fully obligated contracts.

Helicopter Charter Services operating a Bell Jet Ranger III and a Bell Long Ranger