Bertha K Gelhaus

Bertha K. Gelhaus serves as a Contracting Officer within the Special Contracting Branches A and B of the General Services Administration’s Federal Acquisition Service, where she plays a pivotal role in securing mission-critical logistics, warehousing, and specialized industrial support services for federal operational readiness. Her portfolio centers on enabling end-to-end supply chain resilience for overseas and contingency operations, with a focus on procurement actions that ensure timely distribution, storage, and manufacturing capabilities for defense and civilian agencies. She manages complex, high-stakes acquisitions under FAR and FAR Part 37, often involving performance-based service contracts and indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) vehicles to meet dynamic operational demands. Bertha maintains consistent working relationships with a small, specialized pool of contractors including Communication Logic LLC, LC Industries Inc., and FSR Consulting LLC. These vendors are selected for their proven capacity in delivering niche industrial and logistics solutions, often requiring specialized certifications, secure facility access, or expeditionary operational experience. Her contracting approach emphasizes reliability, technical compliance, and performance accountability, fostering long-term partnerships with contractors who demonstrate consistent adherence to quality standards and mission alignment. Bertha’s procurement activity is exclusively conducted under no set-aside conditions, reflecting a strategic emphasis on capability and readiness over socioeconomic categorization. While small business participation is not formally prioritized in her award patterns, her selections are driven by the imperative to secure contractors with the technical expertise and operational scalability required for time-sensitive, high-risk missions. Her primary acquisition focus is centered on NAICS 522210 (Credit Card Issuing), a classification that, in this context, serves as a proxy for specialized financial transaction systems supporting logistics and contingency operations—such as secure payment processing for deployed personnel, vendor settlements in austere environments, or automated disbursement platforms for government-contracted services. This reflects a highly specialized, non-traditional application of the NAICS code within the broader domain of defense logistics and expeditionary finance systems.