Alyse Girard

Alyse Girard serves as a procurement specialist within the Foreign Service Institute’s Acquisitions division, supporting the U.S. Department of State’s mission to equip diplomatic personnel with cutting-edge training and technical infrastructure. She manages a diverse portfolio of acquisitions centered on digital learning platforms, data hosting services, and professional development solutions, ensuring that training systems remain agile, secure, and scalable for global deployment. Her work directly enables the modernization of the Foreign Service’s capacity-building ecosystem by aligning procurement strategy with institutional priorities in digital transformation and workforce readiness. Girard collaborates with a broad spectrum of vendors, including computing infrastructure providers, e-learning developers, and training consultants, fostering partnerships that balance innovation with compliance. While no single contractor dominates her portfolio, she consistently engages both large-scale IT service firms and niche small businesses specializing in language learning technologies and cloud-based training environments. Her contracting approach emphasizes performance-based outcomes, requiring vendors to demonstrate interoperability with State Department systems and adherence to federal cybersecurity standards. Her procurement patterns reflect a balanced commitment to socioeconomic goals, with half of her actions set aside for small businesses under FAR 19.5, and the other half awarded without set-asides to ensure competitive flexibility. This dual approach supports broad market participation while maintaining access to specialized capabilities. She actively promotes opportunities for small disadvantaged businesses, women-owned firms, and service-disabled veteran-owned enterprises, aligning with the Department of State’s broader diversity and inclusion objectives. Girard’s primary procurement focus lies in NAICS 518210, where she acquires data processing, web hosting, and cloud infrastructure essential for digital training platforms, and NAICS 611430, where she procures professional development and management training services. Her technical domain expertise spans learning management systems, virtual classrooms, cybersecurity-compliant hosting environments, and curriculum delivery platforms, ensuring that Foreign Service personnel receive mission-critical training through reliable, scalable, and secure digital ecosystems.