Carol Jensen

Carol Jensen serves as a key procurement lead within the Tongass National Forest, part of the U.S. Forest Service under the Department of Agriculture, where she manages acquisitions critical to maintaining and restoring the forest’s infrastructure network. Her responsibilities encompass the full lifecycle of contracting for transportation, trail, and visitor facility projects, ensuring compliance with federal regulations while advancing the agency’s mission of ecological preservation and public access. She routinely handles construction and specialty trade contracts under the Federal Acquisition Regulation, with a strong emphasis on project delivery that balances environmental stewardship with operational resilience in remote, high-risk terrain. Jensen works closely with a network of qualified small businesses specializing in remote infrastructure work, fostering long-term partnerships with contractors capable of operating in challenging Alaskan conditions. While no single vendor dominates her portfolio, she consistently engages firms with proven experience in wilderness construction, erosion control, and sustainable trail development. Her contracting approach prioritizes reliability, local knowledge, and adaptive project execution, often requiring vendors to demonstrate familiarity with USDA environmental protocols and seasonal work constraints. She maintains a 100% small business set-aside preference across all eligible procurements, fully aligning with FAR 19.5 and demonstrating an unwavering commitment to socioeconomic inclusion. Her awards consistently support small, disadvantaged, and locally rooted enterprises, including HUBZone and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses, reinforcing the agency’s dedication to economic development in rural Alaska communities. Her primary procurement focus lies in NAICS 238990 (All Other Specialty Trade Contractors) and 237310 (Highway, Street, and Bridge Construction), reflecting her specialization in trail rehabilitation, boardwalk installation, culvert replacement, and low-volume road maintenance. She procures services requiring precision in environmental compliance, erosion mitigation, and cold-weather construction techniques, making her a critical link between federal infrastructure goals and on-the-ground execution in one of the nation’s most ecologically sensitive landscapes.