Helena, MT – Reporting from NBC News revealed that Tim Sheehy falsely certified his business as disadvantaged to win government contracts. 

According to NBC News, federal code states that “a socially disadvantaged person as someone who has been ‘subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice or cultural bias within American society because of their identities as members of groups and without regard to their individual qualities. The social disadvantage must stem from circumstances beyond their control.’”

Sheehy’s company’s certification as a “socially disadvantaged business” was false. According to NBC News, a company spokesperson claimed that the false certification was “an employee mistake that went undiscovered for four years.”

NBC News: Tim Sheehy may turn the Senate red. But is he really a successful businessman?
August 9, 2024
Gretchen Morgensons, Laura Strickler, and Courtney Kube

• Sheehy, 38, promises “to fight for every hardworking Montanan and their family” and points to his job creation and entrepreneurial skills as among his qualifications for the Senate. Recent events at his company tell a more nuanced story and raise questions about the firm’s viability, its executive pay and its efforts to obtain government contracts.
   

• In seeking to win government contracts, one Bridger unit Sheehy headed after receiving an investment from Blackstone certified itself as a socially and economically disadvantaged company, according to federal documents filed with the Small Business Administration.
   

• Meanwhile, Blackstone has cashed out most of its investment in Sheehy’s business.
   

• Although Bridger generated $119 million in net losses in 2022 and 2023, company insiders, starting with Sheehy, have been paid well.In 2022, Sheehy’s cash and stock compensation neared $5 million, and last year, he received $2.5 million, Bridger’s proxy says.
   

• Bridger’s business is “highly dependent on the needs of government agencies to surveil and suppress fires,” it says. Federal records show Bridger Aerospace received contracts worth $16.1 million in 2023 and 2024 from the Interior Department and the Forest Service.
   

• Bridger Air Tanker had itself as a “Small Disadvantaged Business,” its contracts show, and a spokesperson for the SBA confirmed it. It is no longer self-certified as a disadvantaged business.
   

• To qualify for the small disadvantaged business program, a firm must be 51% owned by one or more socially and economically disadvantaged people. The code defines a socially disadvantaged person as someone who has been “subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice or cultural bias within American society because of their identities as members of groups and without regard to their individual qualities. The social disadvantage must stem from circumstances beyond their control.”
   

• Companies that qualify as small disadvantaged businesses can receive preferential treatment on government contracts, according to the Federal Code, with the government awarding 10% of federal contract dollars, or roughly $50 billion a year, to them. The code also says that government agencies can limit awards to competition only among small disadvantaged businesses.
   

• The SBA inspector general has identified self-certification for these programs as an area of upcoming focus because of risks of financial fraud, said Farrah Saint-Surin, a spokeswoman. “This is something that we are definitely going to look at,” Saint-Surin told NBC News.

SEE ALSO: 
NBC News: Tim Sheehy may turn the Senate red. But is he really a successful businessman?; Washington Post: Montana GOP Senate candidate touts his business. It’s losing millions; Billings Gazette: Tim Sheehy vacates leadership roles at Bridger Aerospace; Montana Free Press: U.S. Senate hopeful’s company reported losses of more than $77 million in 2023; Daily Montanan: Tim Sheehy’s former employees sue over alleged breach of contract; NBC Montana: Unpacking criticism of Sheehy’s blind trust pledge; Bloomberg Gov: Key GOP Senate Recruit Seeks Job Overseeing His Largest Customer; Daily Beast: GOP Star Tim Sheehy Forgot to Mention the Family Money in His ‘Self-Made’ Success Story