Petersen, Inc.

Petersen, Inc., doing business as Petersen Trucking, is a Missoula, Montana-based small business that operates exclusively as a prime contractor supplying heavy equipment, transportation services, and water handling equipment for wildland fire suppression and all-hazard incident response to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service across the Western United States. The company competes predominantly under total small business set-asides on its Indefinite Delivery Contracts and recent delivery orders, though many individual delivery orders carry no set-aside designation once task-ordered against those vehicles. Petersen is a for-profit Subchapter S corporation with no subcontracting footprint; it performs all work directly and holds no affiliations with other prime contractors.

Petersen's customer base is heavily concentrated with the Forest Service. The top five customers account for 95 percent of awards. The Department of Agriculture Forest Service Region 1 (Northern Region) dominates the footprint with 86 awards and $14.2 million in combined potential value, followed by the Forest Service's Fire and Aviation Management National Interagency Fire Center with 19 awards and $5.4 million. The remaining three customers—Forest Service national operations, Region 2 (Rocky Mountain), and Region 4 (Intermountain)—collectively represent 13 awards and $843 thousand. The concentration is extreme: Region 1 alone accounts for 69 percent of all awards and 69 percent of combined potential value, and the Northern Region plus NIFC together represent 85 awards and $19.6 million of the $20.5 million total footprint.

Petersen holds a substantial portfolio of Indefinite Delivery Contracts through the National Interagency Fire Center's Virtual Incident Procurement (VIPR) program, awarded between June 2022 and February 2026. These contracts carry $250,000 to $500,000 ceilings and are designated as total small business set-asides for firm fixed-price delivery of equipment and personnel. The company currently holds ten active VIPR IDC vehicles covering heavy equipment task force services, heavy equipment with water services, miscellaneous heavy equipment, and water handling across Forest Service Regions 1, 2, 4, 8, and 9, with ultimate completion dates extending through May 2030. Recent delivery orders drawn against these vehicles include a $290,030 order in June 2026 for heavy equipment and water handling to Helena, Montana, a $210,812.50 order in August 2026 for equipment and services to Hamilton, Montana, and a $173,060 order in August 2026 to Dillon, Montana. The five highest-value parent vehicles by task-order count are five regional and national Blanket Purchase Agreements under Forest Service fire and aviation management umbrellas, collectively accounting for 42 task orders and $2.1 million in combined potential value. Place of performance is concentrated in Montana, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington; Petersen maintains equipment staging and dispatch capability across multiple Forest Service regions.

Award activity shows moderate growth year over year—6 awards in 2022, declining to 4 in 2023, recovering to 7 in 2024, then accelerating to 14 in 2025 and 12 through August 2026. Petersen has delivered federal work since 2006 and holds 124 total prime awards with a combined potential value of $20.5 million, of which $5.3 million (26 percent) has been obligated. The category concentration is nearly absolute: 123 of 124 awards map to NAICS 561730 (Support Activities for Forestry), and 120 awards align with PSC code Natural Resources/Conservation—Forest-Range Fire Suppression/Presuppression. Work consists of firm-fixed-price delivery orders typically valued between $7,000 and $353,811, with completion windows of days to weeks, reflecting the episodic nature of wildland fire response and pre-positioned equipment contracts. The company specializes in delivery of excavators, dozers, feller bunchers, road graders, water-handling systems, and personnel trained and certified for 16-hour daily operational shifts in support of fire suppression, all-hazard incidents, and prescribed burn operations.

Trucking company with over 34 years of equipment hauling freight, both Interstate and Intrastate. Fire suppression, supporting Region 1. Petersen also provides general construction support.