Cathleen Christensen

Cathleen Christensen serves as a Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) for the USDA Forest Service, providing critical oversight of construction and infrastructure support contracts essential to maintaining forest health and operational readiness across remote federal lands. In this role, she ensures contractor performance aligns with mission-critical objectives in wildfire mitigation, ecological restoration, and facility resilience. Her procurement focus centers on small business set-asides under FAR 19.5, with a consistent emphasis on ensuring compliance with federal construction standards and performance metrics for projects in rugged, environmentally sensitive terrains. She plays a pivotal role in bridging field operational needs with acquisition execution, ensuring timely delivery of services that sustain public safety and ecosystem integrity. Christensen maintains active working relationships with a select group of specialized contractors, including ACI FEDERAL INC, ONE STOP RECRUITING LLC, GONDO ROY E MD, THE LOCUMS CO, LLC, and AMD INTERNATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES LLC. These partnerships reflect a preference for firms with demonstrated expertise in niche construction support, temporary staffing for field operations, and technical services tailored to remote forest service environments. Her approach emphasizes performance-based outcomes, rigorous quality control, and sustained collaboration with vendors who understand the unique logistical and environmental constraints of federal land management operations. Her procurement strategy is fully aligned with small business participation, as all her acquisitions are structured as total small business set-asides under FAR 19.5. This reflects a deliberate and consistent commitment to fostering economic opportunity among small, locally based contractors capable of delivering specialized services in underserved rural and wilderness areas. She actively prioritizes vendors with proven capacity to meet federal construction standards while advancing socioeconomic goals through inclusive contracting practices. Christensen’s primary procurement focus is concentrated in NAICS 238310, Drywall and Insulation Contractors, indicating a specialization in facility construction and rehabilitation projects for ranger stations, visitor centers, and field offices. Her technical domain expertise lies in low-impact, high-resilience building systems suited for harsh climates and ecologically protected zones, ensuring that infrastructure investments support both operational functionality and environmental stewardship.