Clara Johnson

Clara Johnson serves as a key procurement lead within the Eastern Region USDA Forest Service, overseeing the acquisition of public relations and communications services critical to public engagement, environmental education, and community outreach. Her role is central to advancing the agency’s mission of fostering public trust and awareness around forest stewardship, wildfire prevention, and ecological restoration. She manages solicitations under the Federal Acquisition Regulation, ensuring compliance with statutory requirements for transparency, competition, and socioeconomic equity. Her acquisitions typically support media campaigns, stakeholder engagement programs, interpretive signage development, and digital outreach initiatives that connect federal land management efforts with local communities and diverse audiences. While specific contractor names are not disclosed in available records, Johnson consistently engages with a network of specialized communications firms, marketing agencies, and nonprofit partners skilled in environmental storytelling and public education. Her procurement approach emphasizes performance-based contracting, with a strong preference for vendors possessing experience in natural resource communication, cultural interpretation, and multi-platform public outreach. She fosters long-term partnerships with contractors who demonstrate adaptive capacity, cultural competency, and a proven ability to deliver mission-aligned messaging across rural and underserved regions. Johnson exhibits an unwavering commitment to small business participation, directing 100% of her procurements toward total small business set-asides under FAR 19.5. This reflects a deliberate strategy to empower locally rooted, woman-owned, and minority-owned enterprises with expertise in public relations and community engagement. Her contracting patterns prioritize socioeconomic inclusion, ensuring that federal resources support the growth of small businesses capable of delivering high-impact, mission-critical communications services. Her primary focus is on NAICS 541820 (Public Relations Agencies), where she procures strategic communications, media relations, crisis communication planning, and public education materials tailored to forest service priorities. She specializes in services that translate complex ecological and safety messaging into accessible public content, demonstrating deep expertise in environmental communication and public affairs procurement.