The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Forest Service has obligated $33,191,884 to 10 Tanker Air Carrier, LLC under contract 1202SA24K9124, a firm-fixed-price task order for exclusive-use airtanker services tied to the agency's wildfire suppression aviation program. The order was signed May 17, 2024, with a period of performance running through December 31, 2028, according to federal award data published on USAspending.gov.

The order was issued under solicitation FS-AT23-EU-01 and drew five offers, competed as "full and open competition after exclusion of sources" under the Forest Service's multiple-award fair opportunity process. It was placed against parent indefinite-delivery vehicle 1202SA23T9100, managed by the Forest Service's Incident Procurement Aviation Branch. The award description identifies it as the "10 Tanker — Airtanker MATCO 2023 Exclusive Use Task Order, 120 Day MAP" — MATCO referring to the Forest Service's Mandatory Availability Period task order structure for large airtankers.

The award is classified under NAICS code 481212 (Nonscheduled Chartered Freight Air Transportation) and product/service code F003 (Natural Resources/Conservation — Forest-Range Fire Suppression/Presuppression). 10 Tanker Air Carrier operates a fleet of DC-10-based large airtankers used for aerial wildfire retardant drops under Forest Service exclusive-use contracts, which guarantee aircraft availability to the government during defined windows of fire season in exchange for daily and flight-hour rates.

For GovCon contractors in the aviation services space, exclusive-use task orders like this one illustrate how the Forest Service structures its firefighting aviation fleet: rather than one-off spot procurement, the agency locks in aircraft availability years in advance through competed task orders against standing multiple-award vehicles, with obligations that can be increased as fire seasons demand additional flight hours.

Source: USAspending.gov