15 -- Market Survey for Aerial Supervision Aircraft

The USDA Forest Service is contemplating an upgrade of its aerial supervision fleet of aircraft utilized for initial attack, extended attack, and leadplane functions on wildfires. The purpose of this request for information is to conduct market research to determine if there are commercial aircraft (with or without modifications) available in the marketplace to fulfill the aerial supervision performance requirements within reasonable pricing parameters and which may ultimately result in the solicitation of competitive proposals for lease or purchase of approximately 10 aircraft of the same model from a single vendor at a later date.