Neptune Aviation Services, Inc.

Neptune Aviation Services, Inc., doing business as Northstar Jet, is a woman-owned small business providing large airtanker operations, aerial fire retardant drops, aircraft maintenance, air attack coordination, and smokejumper transport to federal wildland fire management agencies as a prime contractor operating 100% of its recent federal award footprint. Headquartered in Missoula, Montana, Neptune operates the largest privately owned fleet of large airtankers in the United States and competes predominantly under total small business set-asides on its core platform IDVs, though individual delivery orders often carry no set-aside designation once the underlying vehicle is established.

The company's customer base is concentrated almost exclusively with the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), which accounts for 409 of 424 awards (96%) and $3.07 billion of $3.14 billion in combined potential value. The Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management Idaho Region represents the second-tier customer with five awards valued at $21.3 million for EU air attack services in Elko, Nevada and Pocatello, Idaho. Three awards through the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, two Forest Service awards, and one National Transportation Safety Board award round out the portfolio but represent negligible value. Customer concentration is extreme: NIFC alone accounts for 99% of awards by count and 98% of combined potential value across all federal funding sources.

Neptune operates under four primary parent vehicles. The Forest Service Airtanker Services 2023 IDIQ—a $1.444 billion multiple-award contract awarded January 1, 2024, extending through December 2033—carries 43 task orders generating $157.1 million combined potential value and covers large airtanker operations, air attack services, aircraft maintenance and repair, aerial fire retardant drops, aerial reconnaissance, smokejumper and cargo transport, and emergency aircraft recovery. An additional $48.09 million multiple-award IDIQ with NIFC for National Light Fixed Wing Services (January 1, 2024–December 31, 2033) delivers 43 task orders under the same scope. The Bureau of Land Management awarded a $16 million single-award IDIQ (March 1, 2024–April 30, 2029, total small business set-aside) for EU air attack services in Nevada and Idaho. A legacy $349.2 million Call When Needed large airtanker services IDIQ (February 9, 2022–December 31, 2023) generated 61 delivery orders valued at $31.1 million. Representative delivery orders illustrate scope: a $44.3 million to $46.1 million exclusive-use airtanker task order (May 17, 2024, Boise, Idaho, December 31, 2028 completion); a $1.548 million EU air attack delivery order (June 17, 2025, Missoula, Montana); and a $421,669 routine aircraft maintenance order (June 1, 2026, Missoula, Montana).

Award activity declined sharply from peak years: Neptune received 72 awards in 2022, 59 in 2023, then dropped to 17 in 2024 and 19 in 2025, rebounding slightly to 33 in 2026. Ten awards with ultimate completion dates in the next twenty-four months represent a combined potential value of $814 thousand, indicating limited near-term recompete exposure but reflecting the substantial multi-year nature of existing IDV awards through 2033. SCI-reported invoiced revenue totaled $70.9 million in FY2023 across 24.9 FTEs and $92.8 million in FY2024 across 20.6 FTEs, reflecting the company's scale as a federal services contractor on SCI-reportable contracts above the $150,000 threshold. This SCI-reported revenue captures only a subset of Neptune's federal work; the $163.7 million in SCI invoicing across two fiscal years is substantially smaller than the combined potential value of IDV platforms ($2.5 billion ceiling across active vehicles). Government-paid hourly rates on SCI contracts ranged from a median of $1,422.90 per hour, with a 10th percentile floor of $1,021.46 per hour and 90th percentile ceiling of $2,282.03 per hour.

Neptune self-performs all work under its prime awards; SCI data show zero subcontractor engagement (0% average sub-hours share across prime records). The vendor operates exclusively as a prime contractor with no sub-award footprint in the source data. Place of performance includes Missoula, Montana (headquarters and primary operations facility) and Boise, Idaho (secondary operational location for Next Gen 2.0 airtanker operations). The corporate structure reflects Neptune Aviation Services, Inc. as the parent for-profit Subchapter S corporation operating under the Northstar Jet trade name; no subsidiary relationships are documented beyond the legal entity structure itself.

Neptune's competitive positioning in federal wildland fire management is anchored to exclusive or near-exclusive access to NIFC's major contract vehicles, particularly the $1.444 billion Forest Service Airtanker Services 2023 IDIQ and the $48.09 million National Light Fixed Wing Services IDIQ, both awarded January 1, 2024. These vehicles position Neptune as the primary federal contractor for large-airtanker operations through 2033. The combination of woman-owned small business designation, over 25 years of operational experience, specialized aircraft fleet ownership, and in-place aviation maintenance capabilities has insulated Neptune from competitive pressure on its core platform while generating recurrent delivery order activity. However, the drop in annual award volume from 2022–2023 to 2024–2025 may reflect tightening federal wildland fire budgets, agency consolidation of delivery order activity into fewer, larger task orders, or both.