Fish and Wildlife bought its ninth no-bid track loader for $248,954

A $248,954 machine bought without competing bids is headed for crews clearing burnable vegetation off the Richardson Training Area ranges at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. It is the ninth such loader the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has bought since August for an Air Force wildland fire branch, and the most expensive. The other eight ran between $165,409 and $200,345.

The machine is a CAT 275XE compact track loader fitted with forestry attachments, awarded to Caterpillar Inc. of Irving, Texas, on Sept. 3 and running through Sept. 3, 2027. JBER has been burning the ranges under controlled conditions since May 4 to reduce the wildfire risk to nearby communities.

Two things kept the purchase out of open bidding. It was ordered against an existing heavy equipment contract that lets the agency buy as it needs to without running a fresh solicitation, and it falls under simplified acquisition rules, which allow agencies to skip a full competitive bid on smaller contracts. In a July 21 notice of intent, the service wrote that Caterpillar is "the only source capable of meeting the technical and logistical requirements."