Allison James

Allison James serves as a procurement lead within the New York City Parks and Recreation agency, overseeing the acquisition of critical services that sustain and enhance the city’s public green spaces and recreational infrastructure. In this role, she manages the full lifecycle of contracts for landscaping, grounds maintenance, and facility support services, ensuring alignment with the agency’s mission of equitable access to urban greenery. Her acquisitions focus on operational continuity—particularly for aging athletic fields, historic structures, and water systems—requiring technical expertise in horticultural management, turf restoration, and ecological stewardship. She works closely with cross-functional teams to translate capital improvement goals into solicitations that prioritize performance-based outcomes and long-term asset sustainability. James maintains relationships with a broad base of vendors specializing in landscape architecture, nursery stock supply, and janitorial support for recreational facilities. While no single contractor dominates her portfolio, she consistently engages regional firms with proven experience in urban horticulture and public infrastructure maintenance. Her contracting approach favors proven performance, local capacity, and compliance with environmental standards, fostering partnerships with contractors who demonstrate expertise in native plant integration, sustainable irrigation, and historic preservation techniques. James’s procurement patterns reflect a strong preference for open competition, with 100% of her acquisitions issued as non-set-aside contracts. She does not routinely utilize 8(a), HUBZone, or SDVOSB set-asides, instead prioritizing technical capability and operational readiness over socioeconomic categorization. This reflects a strategic alignment with the agency’s need for scalable, high-volume service delivery across all five boroughs, where reliability and scale often outweigh targeted socioeconomic preferences. Her primary procurement focus lies in NAICS 561730 (Landscaping Services), which accounts for half of her portfolio, followed by support activities for forestry and nursery production. She routinely procures tree planting, shrubbery maintenance, irrigation system upgrades, and floral displays for public parks, demonstrating deep familiarity with horticultural supply chains and arboricultural best practices. Her expertise centers on sustaining urban ecosystems through integrated, service-based contracting models.