Your Taxes are Burning: The $1.3B Monopoly Controlling US Wildfire Response

On February 6, 2026, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued decision B-422112.1, denying a protest filed by Fortress North America. The ruling upholds a $1.3 billion sole-source award from the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) to Perimeter Solutions (NYSE: PRM), a Clayton, Missouri-based firm that currently controls 100% of the federal long-term fire retardant market. The contract covers the next five years of wildfire suppression, a period expected to see record-breaking federal expenditures.

This monopoly is not an accident of the free market, but a result of specific regulatory choices made within the USFS. At the heart of the controversy is Modified Specification 5100-304d. This technical document dictates the chemical composition required for retardants to be placed on the agency’s Qualified Product List (QPL). [Qualified Product List (QPL)] is a registry of products that have been pre-tested and approved by a federal agency for procurement based on specific performance and safety requirements. By narrowing these requirements to favor a specific phosphate-based chemistry patented by Perimeter Solutions, the USFS has effectively barred any other company from competing for the $1.3 billion pot.

The money trail suggests this 'technical' decision has significant financial rewards for Perimeter Solutions. According to the company’s 2025 10-K filing, Perimeter maintains EBITDA margins exceeding 40% in its fire safety segment—margins significantly higher than the standard for chemical manufacturing. These profits are fueled directly by the rising cost of wildfire suppression. U.S. Forest Service data shows that suppression costs jumped from $1.6 billion in 2016 to over $3.7 billion by 2024. As the budget for fighting fires grows, so does the revenue for the sole company authorized to supply the primary tool used to fight them.

Public records identify the specific officials who authorized this arrangement. Randy Moore, Chief of the U.S. Forest Service, served as the final signatory authority on the agency-wide procurement strategy that prioritized sole-source contracting over open competition. Additionally, Jerome Perez, the USFS Director of Fire and Aviation Management, oversaw the technical teams that drafted the specifications excluding alternative retardants. In the agency's 'Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition' (J&A) document, Perez’s department cited 'immediate mission necessity' to bypass the standard bidding process, despite competitors like Fortress North America claiming they were ready to provide magnesium-chloride-based alternatives that are both cheaper and less toxic to aquatic life according to EPA assessments.

[Sole-Source Award] is a contract awarded to a vendor without a competitive bidding process, usually under the justification that only one supplier can meet the government's requirements.

While the USFS argues that safety is the primary driver for these narrow specs, the timing of testing procedures tells a different story. Evidence presented during the GAO protest indicated that the USFS delayed the testing of competitor products for over 36 months. This delay ensured that by the time the 2026-2031 contract cycle began, only Perimeter Solutions remained on the QPL. This tactic, known as regulatory capture, allows a single firm to dictate terms to the government. [Regulatory Capture] is a form of corruption where a government agency created to act in the public interest instead advances the commercial or political concerns of special interest groups that dominate the industry it regulates.

The influence extends to Capitol Hill. Federal Election Commission (FEC) records show that Perimeter Solutions and its board members have increased their political contributions to members of the House Committee on Agriculture—which oversees the Forest Service—by 150% since 2021. Key recipients of these funds have remained silent on the lack of competition in fire retardant procurement, even as they vote for expanded wildfire budgets.

Mainstream media coverage often frames the rising cost of wildfires as an inevitable byproduct of climate change. While environmental factors are real, they serve as a convenient screen for the 'monopoly tax' being levied on American taxpayers. By allowing one company to control the market, the USFS has removed any incentive for price discipline. According to federal procurement data, the cost per gallon of fire retardant has increased at nearly double the rate of inflation over the last decade.

For ordinary people, this means that billions of dollars are being diverted away from forest thinning, community fire-breaks, and local prevention programs. Instead, those funds are funneled into a single NYSE-listed corporation whose business model relies on the continuation of catastrophic fire seasons. As long as the USFS technical specifications remain locked to a single patent holder, the price of protection will continue to rise, regardless of how many acres burn.

At Gen Us, we believe in following the money beyond the press releases. You can visit our Gen Us Politician Tracker to see which members of the House Agriculture Committee received donations from Perimeter Solutions executives. You can also explore our 'Revolving Door' database to track former Forest Service officials who now serve as consultants for private equity firms invested in wildfire suppression technology.