Charlie Cernat

Charlie Cernat serves as a Purchasing Agent for the USDA Forest Service (Agency Code: 1282A7), responsible for executing procurement actions that support the agency’s mission of forest and grassland stewardship, wildfire mitigation, and operational readiness in remote environments. He manages a diverse portfolio of acquisitions aligned with ecological restoration, infrastructure maintenance, and emergency response needs, ensuring compliance with federal procurement regulations and strategic resource allocation. His work directly enables field operations by securing essential services and supplies critical to sustaining federal lands and supporting personnel deployed in rugged terrain. Cernat maintains consistent working relationships with a select group of 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 focus on specialized support services such as forestry operations, temporary staffing for seasonal field roles, medical support in remote locations, and technical consulting. His procurement approach emphasizes reliability, mission alignment, and responsiveness to dynamic operational demands, fostering long-term vendor collaborations that prioritize performance and adaptability. Cernat demonstrates a strong, unwavering commitment to small business participation, with 100% of his acquisitions structured as Total Small Business Set-Asides under FAR 19.5. This reflects a deliberate strategy to maximize economic opportunity for small businesses, ensuring that contracting resources directly benefit economically disadvantaged and community-based enterprises. His pattern of socioeconomic contracting reinforces the USDA’s broader goals of inclusive economic development and workforce empowerment across rural and forest-dependent regions. His primary procurement focus centers on NAICS 115310 (Support Activities for Forestry), which encompasses wildfire prevention, invasive species management, and forest health initiatives. He also routinely procures janitorial (NAICS 561720) and landscaping services (NAICS 561730) to maintain visitor facilities and infrastructure on national forest lands. This technical domain expertise ensures that acquisitions are tailored to the unique environmental and operational constraints of federal forest management.