June 1st marked the beginning of the Atlantic Hurricane season. These past few years, the United States has endured waves of devastation from Maria to Michael. Then, in the West, there have been numerous wildfires, with the Camp Fire being one of the most destructive in recent memory. Although it seems as if a disaster is inevitable, what’s also inevitable is that there will always be contractors who will answer the call to help. With a recent Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) award from the U.S. Forest Service, B&G Forestry, LLC will be there to answer the call and provide aid.
“It’s a pilot program; it’s not completely unlike the VIPR program based on [USFS] forest regions. This is adapting it to a larger scale,” said Research & Contract Admin Specialist Elizabeth Cline.
VIPR stands for Virtual Incident Procurement. It’s a web-based application used by the USFS to manage BPAs for emergency response calls in the different USFS regions across the country. By “larger scale,” Elizabeth means the six states that make up the entire Southeast region of the US. The BPA won by B&G Forestry is national rather than regional, for five years with a cap of $7.5 million.
B&G Forestry is a small business based in CO that has been around in its current form since 2013. Their main services include wildfire mitigation, forestry contracting, and direct attack. They’re equipped with a mechanical strike fire mitigation team as well. Although this form of the company has been around for six years, they have plenty of major Rocky Mountain region and Western US wildfires under their belt, which includes:
- Burro Fire
- 416 Fire
- Ferguson Fire
- Carr Fire
- Ryan Fire
- Keystone Fire
- Spring Creek Fire
- Silver Creek Fire
Their great amount of success in such a short time comes from the team’s vast array of expertise. President Geof Rondeau has 40-plus years of experience in general contracting and many years in forestry and wildfire mitigation. Principal and VIPR Strike Team Leader Two Ronald Kambic is well versed in handling wildfires in heavy equipment operation and has a background in finance. Principal and VIPR Strike-Team Leader One William West specializes in heavy construction, wildfire mitigation, and direct attack. Elizabeth Cline has a strong background in writing federal grants.
The business is also a registered FEMA contractor and a DynCorp registered contractor. They’re also affiliated with local and county fire departments in Colorado. On top of this, B&G Forestry is a US Federal Contractor Registration verified vendor. Contracting officers can rest assured that their SAM registration and other certifications will always comply.
To grow its skillset in federal contracting, the company has used various educational resources provided by USFCR. This includes numerous webinars hosted by Dan Driscoll and bid training sessions held by Anna Rose.
“It definitely helped shorten our learning curve regarding the processes related to submitting federal contracts,” says Elizabeth.
B&G Forestry is actively pursuing subcontracting opportunities and teaming agreements. They are currently working on two bids for forestry support activities for the Tonto National Forest in Arizona and the Cleveland National Forest in California. They are even looking toward winning another USFS VIPR contract. From fires to hurricanes, B&G Forestry, LLC will be there to lend a hand. B&G Forestry, LLC Lands BPA for Hurricane Relief in the Southeast
To speak with a Contracting Specialist, Call: (866) 216-5343
