Kearns & West Inc.

Kearns & West Inc. Patricia Balmas Division, doing business as Kearns & West Inc., is a San Francisco–based for-profit Subchapter S corporation that delivers facilitation, mediation, stakeholder engagement, and collaborative problem-solving services to federal agencies as a prime contractor on a mix of set-aside and full-and-open competition. The vendor operates as prime on 98% of recent awards and competes predominantly without set-asides, though recent small-business set-aside delivery orders from the Department of Interior bureaus demonstrate recurring access to that category.

Kearns & West specializes in third-party facilitation, consensus-building, conflict resolution, and strategic communications for complex natural resource management, environmental policy, and regulatory affairs initiatives. Core capabilities include designing and facilitating multi-stakeholder meetings, providing mediation and alternative dispute resolution support, conducting stakeholder engagement planning, supporting environmental impact assessments, and delivering organizational development and training. The vendor's delivery is nearly entirely labor-based, with senior professionals (facilitators, mediators, conflict experts) billing at $196/hr median across federal service contracts, with expert-level rates reaching $695/hr.

The vendor's customer base concentrates heavily within the Department of Interior. The top five funding offices account for 76% of combined potential value across the award footprint: the Office of Policy Management and Budget (45 awards, $138.6 million ceiling), the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (103 awards, $86.4 million), the Bureau of Reclamation (50 awards, $28 million), the Bureau of Land Management National Office (46 awards, $5.6 million), and the Fish and Wildlife Service Region 3 (35 awards, $4.1 million). The volume and dollar rankings align closely—BOEM leads both on count and value—but the Office of Policy Management and Budget's smaller count carries disproportionate dollars due to larger individual delivery orders, including awards from the Commercial Conflict Management Services–External IDIQ and the Office of Collaborative Action and Dispute Resolution main contract vehicle.

Kearns & West holds three major contract vehicles anchoring its federal footprint. The Department of Interior's $65.5 million single-award IDIQ for Public Engagement, Collaborative Problem-Solving and Conflict Resolution Services (awarded June 21, 2023, Total Small Business set-aside, expiring July 6, 2028) generates the largest volume of task orders across Interior bureaus—196 task orders totaling $29.4 million in combined potential value from the most recent data pull. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's $65 million multiple-award Blanket Purchase Agreement for Facilitation, Outreach, and Support Services (awarded April 10, 2024, expiring April 9, 2027) supports offshore energy planning, renewable energy, and marine minerals initiatives and anchors over 100 delivery orders. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' $48.3 million multiple-award Water Resources Analytical and Professional Support Services IDIQ (awarded March 29, 2022, Partial Small Business set-aside, expiring March 28, 2027) has generated 107 task orders totaling $18.3 million for facilitation, adaptive management support, and NEPA documentation backing. Kearns & West also holds a GSA Federal Supply Schedule contract ($5.5 million ceiling through August 2027) covering management, environmental, technical consulting, and public relations labor categories.

Recent representative prime work spans Interior's mission-critical initiatives. A $3.13 million BOEM task order (September 8, 2025, time-and-materials) provides public involvement planning and facilitation for the 11th National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program through 2029. A $2.18 million Bureau of Reclamation delivery order (September 25, 2025, time-and-materials) supports facilitation and collaborative problem-solving for the Klamath Basin Project re-initiation of consultation and long-term collaboration. A $3.43 million Bureau of Reclamation Bay Delta Office delivery order (November 30, 2023, Total Small Business set-aside, time-and-materials) provides facilitation, mediation, and dispute resolution for California water allocation and dam management challenges through November 2025. A $604 thousand Bureau of Land Management order (August 13, 2024, unrestricted) supports the Wild Horse and Burro Program through July 2028.

SCI-reported invoiced revenue (a partial view covering federal service contracts above $150,000) totaled $30.8 million across FY2022–FY2025, declining from $16.9 million in FY2022 to $3.1 million in FY2025 as task order volumes shifted and FY2025 data remained partial. The FTE trajectory from SCI records shows the vendor scaling from 23.8 FTEs in FY2022 to 8.9 FTEs in FY2025, reflecting lower current task order invoicing. Across prime SCI contracts, Kearns & West subcontracts approximately 13% of delivery hours on average, drawing from a roster of 32 named subcontractors including WSP USA Environment & Infrastructure Inc. (NEPA analysis and biological opinion implementation support), Eastern Research Group Inc. (EPA community technical support and alternative dispute resolution services), American Rivers Inc. (dam rehabilitation and river restoration stakeholder facilitation), and Solar & Storage Industries Institute (community engagement and large-scale solar siting). The subcontractor footprint reflects specialized technical depth the vendor layers beneath its core facilitation and conflict resolution capability.

Award velocity has declined from 62 awards in 2023 and 60 in 2024 to 21 in 2025 and 11 so far in 2026 (through mid-October), reflecting the shift in task order structure and timing within major vehicles rather than loss of customer relationships—the large IDIQs and BPAs remain active and continue to generate orders. Within the next twenty-four months, 20 awards carrying $5.1 million in combined potential value face ultimate completion dates, presenting recompete or renewal risk on smaller, near-term delivery orders but not on the anchor vehicle ceilings themselves.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS, PUBLIC INFORMATION, COLLABORATIVE PLANNING, COMMUNITY RELATIONS, MEDIA RELATIONS, RESEARCH, EXTERNAL ISSUES AUDITS, ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY, BUSINESS, TELECOMMUNICATIONS, WASTE MANAGEMENT AREAS: STOCKHOLDER RELATIONS, HYDROELECTRICITY.