Cheryl Sonnabend

Cheryl Sonnabend serves as a key procurement professional within the Pacific Northwest Regional Office of the U.S. Forest Service, where she manages contracting actions critical to sustaining forested ecosystems and supporting field-level operational readiness. Her role centers on acquiring specialized support services that enable ecological stewardship, infrastructure maintenance, and public safety across remote and environmentally sensitive landscapes. She routinely handles acquisitions under the NAICS 115310 category, focusing on technical and logistical services essential to forestry operations, including vegetation management, erosion control, and environmental compliance support. Her procurement strategy aligns with the agency’s mission to maintain ecological integrity while ensuring administrative functionality in challenging terrains. Sonnabend maintains longstanding relationships with a core group of specialized contractors, including TRIPLE C-THE A & E GROUP LLC, GREAT WEST ENGINEERING INC, GDM-AE, INC., THOMAS DEAN & HOSKINS INC, and TERRAPHASE ENGINEERING INC. These firms provide engineering, environmental consulting, and field support services tailored to forest management needs. Her contracting patterns reflect a preference for long-term, performance-based partnerships with firms possessing deep regional expertise and proven experience in federal forest service environments. She prioritizes vendors with demonstrated technical competence in ecological restoration, forest health monitoring, and infrastructure resilience. Sonnabend consistently applies a 100% Small Business Set-Aside strategy under FAR 19.5, ensuring all acquisitions in her portfolio are reserved exclusively for small businesses. This reflects a strong institutional commitment to socioeconomic equity and regional economic development, with a focus on empowering locally based firms that understand the unique challenges of Pacific Northwest forestry. Her contracting approach actively promotes participation from small businesses across all socioeconomic categories, reinforcing the Forest Service’s broader goals of inclusive procurement. Her procurement domain is exclusively focused on NAICS 115310 — Support Activities for Forestry — encompassing services such as silvicultural support, wildlife habitat enhancement, trail maintenance, and wildfire mitigation logistics. She specializes in acquiring technical services that require specialized environmental knowledge, field operational experience, and compliance with federal land management regulations, ensuring all contracted work aligns with sustainable forestry principles and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requirements.