BILLINGS, Mont. -- The U.S. Forest Service is planning to implement competitive bidding for some private firefighting equipment and services following an audit that criticized current practices.

The 2005 audit from the agency's inspector general said the Forest Service practice of setting a single standard rate for contract equipment in advance ''neither gives the agency the best value nor the best vendor for its dollar.''

A regional agency official, Susan Prentiss, said the agency will implement so-called ''best value'' practices for select equipment in at least three of the agency's Western regions this year.

Prentiss said the new contracts will take into account the price offered by contractors, as well as factors such as the condition of equipment and, eventually, past performance of both the equipment and the contract firefighters operating them.

Such considerations weren't figured in under the standard-rate system, which required equipment meet minimum standards and paid the same regardless of age or condition, said Prentiss, who is based in Missoula.

That system made use of ''emergency equipment rental agreements,'' which were meant to get resources to a fire or other emergency quickly but were being used to line up resources in preparation for fire season. The move to best value shouldn't interfere with getting needed resources to fire lines in a pinch, she said.

Prentiss said that in a true emergency, when needs for engines or other resources exceed those the agency has planned for, ''we can go and negotiate on the spot, without going through a competitive process.''

The standard system also resulted in bloated roles of contract equipment that had to be inspected but could go a considerable time -- a year perhaps -- without being dispatched to a fire under a rotating process, she said.

This new process, being phased in until 2009 when all equipment is expected to fall under the competitive-bid system, should deal with that, Prentiss said. She said she doesn't foresee the Forest Service having trouble securing adequate resources, which still would be shared among agencies.