Owyhee Air Research LLC

Owyhee Air Research LLC, a small business based in Nampa, Idaho with a subsidiary presence in Austin, Texas, operates as a prime contractor specializing in low-altitude fixed-wing aircraft operations, infrared wildlife survey and mapping, and aerial photography for federal land management and environmental agencies. The vendor competes exclusively under total small business set-aside designations across the majority of its portfolio — 168 of 203 recent awards carry the total small business set-aside, with the remainder issued noncompetitively or under no set-aside on indefinite delivery vehicles.

Owyhee Air Research's capability portfolio centers on four concrete service lines: fixed-wing aircraft rental for wildlife surveys (infrared wild horse censuses, sea otter counts, polar bear monitoring, waterfowl surveys, and moose population surveys); aerial photography and snow marker surveys for resource agencies; infrared fire mapping and sensor-enhanced fire support; and streamgage operation and maintenance flights. Representative work includes a $7.57 million delivery order from the National Interagency Fire Center (June 2024) for aircraft and crew to provide sensor-enhanced fire mapping through December 2026; a $158 thousand BPA call from the U.S. Geological Survey Alaska Science Center (May 2025) for sea otter surveys in southcentral Alaska; and a $221 thousand BPA call from the Bureau of Land Management Wyoming Region (October 2024) for infrared wild horse surveys. The vendor places most work through task orders against three recurring BPA vehicles: a $55 million Forest Service multiple-award indefinite delivery contract for national light fixed-wing services through 2033, a $50 million single-award Forest Service BPA for land management integrated resources through March 2033, and a $9.98 million Department of Interior multiple-award BPA for on-call fixed-wing aircraft rental through December 2027.

Customer concentration skews heavily toward Interior agencies. The top five funding entities by award count — the Bureau of Land Management Idaho Region (26 awards), the U.S. Geological Survey (25 awards), the National Resources Conservation Service (13 awards), the National Park Service Intermountain Region (12 awards), and Fish and Wildlife Service Region 1 (12 awards) — account for 43 percent of recent awards. However, the top customers by potential value diverge significantly: the National Interagency Fire Center (a Forest Service element) anchors the portfolio at 9 awards worth $79.5 million combined potential value, driven by a single large delivery order. The Interior Business Center and Office of Policy Management contribute $10 million and $9.5 million respectively through a smaller number of IDV awards. The remaining 35 percent of potential value is distributed across smaller task orders across Interior bureaus.

Activity has declined year over year, from 18 awards in 2022 to 7 through September 2026, though the current contract pipeline remains substantial at $154.6 million combined potential value (with $14.6 million obligated, representing 9 percent utilization). Five awards totaling $8.2 million in combined potential value reach ultimate completion inside the next twenty-four months, representing modest recompete exposure relative to the portfolio's overall size. The vendor operates as a pure prime contractor — 100 percent of recent awards are prime contracts or IDVs, with no subcontract footprint. Owyhee Air Research is structured as a subsidiary of Infinity Development Partners, LLC, a parent company headquartered at the same Austin address. NAICS concentration is extreme: 168 of 203 awards fall under Nonscheduled Chartered Passenger Air Transportation (NAICS 481211), with 12 awards in Commercial Photography and 8 in surveying and mapping services.