Delia J. Gastelum

Delia J. Gastelum serves as a Procurement Clerk for the Coronado National Forest, supporting the U.S. Forest Service’s mission to sustain ecological resilience and public safety through efficient acquisition of critical infrastructure and technical services. In this role, she facilitates the end-to-end procurement process for low- to mid-tier contracts, ensuring compliance with federal acquisition regulations and agency-specific priorities. Her responsibilities include preparing solicitation documents, coordinating with program managers, managing vendor communications, and maintaining accurate procurement records. She primarily handles acquisitions related to forestry support services, facility maintenance, and equipment procurement, ensuring timely delivery of goods and services essential to trail preservation, wildfire mitigation, and visitor infrastructure. Gastelum maintains a consistent working relationship with HAM TUCSON LLC, a key vendor providing specialized services aligned with the Forest Service’s operational needs. Her procurement patterns reflect collaborative, long-term vendor partnerships rooted in reliability and technical alignment with forest management objectives. She engages with contractors who deliver niche expertise in structural metal fabrication, forestry support, and equipment distribution, fostering a procurement environment that prioritizes responsiveness and local capacity. Her contracting practices are heavily oriented toward small business participation, with 93.8% of her acquisitions set aside for total small businesses under FAR 19.5. This reflects a strong commitment to socioeconomic contracting goals, consistently channeling opportunities to small, locally based firms that contribute to regional economic development and workforce resilience. She rarely utilizes no-set-aside procurements, demonstrating a deliberate alignment with federal small business mandates. Gastelum’s procurement focus centers on NAICS codes 541690 (other scientific and technical consulting services) and 115310 (support activities for forestry), which underpin her agency’s ecological stewardship goals. She also regularly procures fabricated structural metal components, as well as motor vehicle and farm/garden equipment through merchant wholesalers, supporting maintenance operations across remote forest terrain. Her expertise lies in bridging technical forestry requirements with practical procurement execution, ensuring compliance while enabling mission-critical outcomes.