Ellena Silva

Ellena Silva serves as a key procurement professional within the Cibola National Forest, supporting the U.S. Forest Service’s mission to sustain forest health, public safety, and recreational access through strategic contracting. She manages a portfolio of operational support acquisitions essential to field-level functionality, including janitorial, landscaping, and environmental services that enable daily resource management and infrastructure resilience. Her work directly facilitates mission-critical activities such as wildfire mitigation and sanitation in high-use recreation zones, ensuring compliance with federal procurement regulations and environmental stewardship goals. Silva maintains consistent working relationships with established contractors including RELIANCE CONTRACTORS INC and ALERTWEST, INC, both of which deliver reliable, performance-based services across forested lands. Her procurement approach emphasizes long-term vendor partnerships grounded in quality assurance, timely delivery, and adherence to federal environmental and safety standards. These relationships are cultivated through competitive solicitation processes that prioritize service continuity and operational readiness in remote and ecologically sensitive areas. A strong advocate for small business participation, Silva consistently prioritizes Total Small Business Set-Asides under FAR 19.5, with over half of her acquisitions reserved for small businesses. This reflects a deliberate socioeconomic strategy to foster local economic development and increase contractor diversity within the Southwest region. While no other specific set-aside categories dominate her portfolio, her pattern demonstrates a clear institutional alignment with USDA and Forest Service goals to expand opportunities for small, community-based vendors. Her procurement focus is heavily concentrated in NAICS 561720 (Janitorial Services), which accounts for nearly half of her activity, followed by landscaping and surveying services. She routinely acquires cleaning, waste removal, grounds maintenance, and land surveying services critical to maintaining public facilities and trail systems. Her technical expertise lies in managing service contracts that integrate environmental compliance, seasonal operational demands, and public access requirements within federally protected lands.