RIO Grande Bentonite Inc.

RIO Grande Bentonite Inc., a Hispanic American-owned small disadvantaged business based in Alamosa, Colorado, supplies portable sanitation equipment, refrigerated storage, water trucks, dumpsters, and bentonite products to the USDA Forest Service and interagency fire and emergency response operations as a prime contractor on full-and-open and total small business set-aside delivery orders and indefinite delivery vehicles. The company competes entirely under set-asides or non-competed task orders against existing IDVs—no general competition activity appears in the footprint.

RIO Grande Bentonite's customer base is narrowly concentrated in Forest Service and wildland fire suppression operations. The National Interagency Fire Center (the Forest Service's fire and aviation management program office) accounts for 11 awards and $17 million in combined potential value—the largest single customer by dollar volume. The Forest Service's Rocky Mountain Region (Region 2) anchors the second-largest tranche with 23 awards and $5.8 million combined potential value, followed by the Southwestern Region (Region 3) at 18 awards and $427 thousand. These three customer slots account for 52 of 68 awards (76%) and $23.2 million of the $23.7 million combined potential value. A handful of National Park Service awards and a few orders from other Forest Service administrative units round out the remainder. The company holds no work with DoD, civilian IT agencies, or non-land-management federal customers.

RIO Grande Bentonite's vehicle position centers on a portfolio of small-business-set-aside indefinite delivery contracts awarded through the National Interagency Fire Center. The marquee holding is a $7.5 million Basic Ordering Agreement (1202RZ24T0064) for portable toilets and handwashing stations that ran through June 2027, with 12 task orders and $180 thousand in combined potential value issued to date. Multiple $250,000 Indefinite Delivery Contracts cover refrigerated trailers, potable and gray water trucks, and trailer-mounted handwashing stations across Forest Service Regions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 9—these vehicles collectively underpin the bulk of the task-order flow. The largest recent IDV (awarded February 2026) is another $250,000 contract for refrigerated trailers, also structured as a total small business set-aside through June 2030. Representative task orders include a $101,034 delivery order from USDA Forest Service Region 3 for portable toilets and handwashing stations (September 2025), an $89,111 order from Region 2 for equipment rentals (June 2024), a $43,995 delivery order from Region 2 for refrigerated trailers (August 2023), and scattered purchase orders for garbage dumpster and container services ranging from $1,220 to $42,960 issued by regional Forest Service offices and the National Interagency Fire Center. The contracts are structured as firm-fixed-price arrangements with no set-aside designation on individual task orders—the set-aside lives at the IDV level.

Award activity accelerated from 2024 onward. Three awards each in 2022 and 2023 gave way to 17 orders in 2024, 15 in 2025, and 7 year-to-date in 2026 (through mid-June). Obligated dollars lag potential value; only $1.4 million of the $23.7 million combined ceiling has been invoiced to date, reflecting the small, transactional nature of individual task orders against standing vehicles. The company operates from Colorado and New Mexico locations and delivers equipment and services to incident sites across the western United States, with performance locations in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and other western states where Forest Service operations are concentrated. All work is prime contractor—no subcontract relationships appear in the footprint. RIO Grande Bentonite's capability portfolio is tightly specialized: portable sanitation infrastructure, refrigerated equipment for food and supply storage during extended incident operations, water and hygiene support for remote camps, and bentonite products (likely used for road stabilization and dust suppression). The company has been active with the Forest Service since at least 2022 and holds multiple concurrent IDV positions, positioning it as an established player in the interagency emergency response supply ecosystem.