Jeff Powell Excavating LLC

Jeff Powell Excavating LLC, a self-certified small disadvantaged business based in Bigfork, Minnesota, operates as a sole proprietor providing excavation, heavy equipment services, and mechanical vegetation removal for federal forest management and fire suppression operations. The firm competes exclusively under small business set-asides, with all prime awards designated as total small business or no set-aside (for delivery orders under standing IDCs). Jeff Powell Excavating LLC is a for-profit limited liability company structured as a sole proprietorship with no federal contract vehicles of its own but holding positions on multiple IDCs and BPAs issued by forest and wildlife agencies.

The vendor's capability portfolio centers on mechanical land clearing, woody vegetation removal, and rapid-deployment heavy equipment support for fuel reduction and emergency response. Representative work includes a $349,955.50 purchase order from the Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Region 3 for brush and tree removal across 1,763 acres at Glacial Ridge National Wildlife Refuge (awarded August 2026, firm fixed price, completion through December 2026); a $184,406.50 order for removal of trees and woody vegetation across 929 acres at Glacial Ridge NWR in Erskine, Minnesota (August 2026, small business set-aside); and a $250,000 Indefinite Delivery Contract from the USDA Forest Service's National Interagency Fire Center for heavy equipment services (dozers, excavators, tractor plows) supporting fire suppression and all-hazard incident response across Regions 1, 2, 4, and 9 (awarded June 2023, total small business set-aside, ultimate completion June 1, 2028).

Customer concentration is severe and tilted toward a single large award. The Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Region 1 accounts for $49.5 million (97% of combined potential value) from one award — a $49.5 million National Fuels Reduction BPA awarded September 2026 through March 2029. The remaining 20 awards distributed across the Department of Agriculture Forest Service Region 9–Eastern Region (13 awards, $167 thousand combined potential value), DOI FWS Region 3 (5 awards, $729 thousand), and USDA Forest Service National Interagency Fire Center (2 awards, $750 thousand) total $1.6 million. The vendor places work under a $250,000 Indefinite Delivery Contract from the National Interagency Fire Center for heavy equipment services across four regions, under which 11 task orders have been issued carrying $102 thousand in combined potential value.

Award activity shows recent acceleration: one award in 2019, then a gap through 2022, followed by one award in 2023 and six awards in each of 2024, 2025, and 2026. Only two awards (combined potential value $534 thousand) face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, concentrated in the small delivery-order work stream. The $49.5 million BPA ceiling extends through March 2029. Combined dollars obligated across all awards total $896 thousand (2% of combined potential value), indicating the majority of the ceiling remains to be called against standing vehicles. The vendor's work is performed across Minnesota locations (Bigfork, Erskine, Mentor, Cass Lake, Duluth) and spans NAICS codes 115310 (Support Activities for Forestry), 238910 (Site Preparation Contractors), and NAICS 211111 (Natural Gas Extraction on one outlier award). PSC coding reflects natural resources conservation focus: forest-range fire suppression, land treatment practices, and tree thinning.

Jeff Powell Excavating is a family-owned northern Minnesota-based business focusing on all of your excavating and landscaping needs.

Whether you need:

A site prepared for your cabin or house

Septic installation

or you want to spruce up your existing land with some new landscaping

Jeff Powell Excavating can fill your needs.