Carla O. Hunter

Carla O. Hunter serves as a Contract Specialist within the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where she plays a pivotal role in executing procurements that support the agency’s mission to ensure equitable access to nutritious food through federally funded nutrition assistance programs. She manages the full lifecycle of acquisitions for technology and management services critical to modernizing SNAP, WIC, and the National School Lunch Program, with a focus on data systems, program evaluation tools, and operational efficiency platforms. Her work directly enables FNS to uphold program integrity, enhance beneficiary outcomes, and drive evidence-based policy through reliable, scalable solutions. Hunter maintains strategic relationships with a diverse pool of vendors, primarily engaged in custom software development, administrative consulting, and IT infrastructure support. While no single contractor dominates her portfolio, she consistently collaborates with firms possessing deep domain expertise in federal nutrition program operations, ensuring solutions align with FNS’s compliance, scalability, and interoperability requirements. Her contracting approach emphasizes vendor responsiveness, technical adaptability, and adherence to federal procurement standards under FAR and agency-specific guidance. A strong advocate for small business participation, Hunter prioritizes socioeconomic set-asides, with 60% of her acquisitions designated as Total Small Business Set-Asides under FAR 19.5. This reflects a deliberate commitment to expanding opportunities for small, disadvantaged, and minority-owned businesses in the federal nutrition technology space. Her contracting patterns consistently channel opportunities to small businesses, reinforcing FNS’s broader equity and inclusion goals. Her procurement focus centers on NAICS 541519 (Other Computer Related Services) and 541511 (Custom Computer Programming Services), reflecting a strong demand for tailored software solutions that integrate with federal data systems. She also frequently procures administrative management consulting services (541611) and computer equipment/software wholesale services (423430), demonstrating expertise in acquiring end-to-end digital transformation capabilities to modernize nutrition program delivery.