Gary Szymanski

Gary Szymanski serves as a key procurement lead within the Bighorn National Forest, supporting the U.S. Forest Service’s mission to sustain forest ecosystems and ensure public safety through strategic acquisitions of critical infrastructure and operational services. He manages a portfolio of contracts focused on civil engineering, forestry support, and maintenance operations essential to road and trail systems, wildfire mitigation, and habitat preservation. His role centers on ensuring compliance with federal acquisition regulations while aligning procurement outcomes with the agency’s ecological and public access priorities. Szymanski routinely oversees solicitations for specialized equipment, maintenance supplies, and contractor-led restoration activities that directly support field operations across the forest’s rugged terrain. His primary contractor relationship is with Mountain View Reforestation LLC, a vendor with deep expertise in ecological restoration, tree planting, and post-fire rehabilitation services. Szymanski consistently engages this partner for projects requiring technical knowledge of native species reintroduction and soil stabilization, reflecting a preference for contractors with proven on-the-ground experience in forested environments. His contracting patterns suggest a reliance on long-term, performance-based vendor partnerships rather than transactional purchases, emphasizing reliability and ecological competency in vendor selection. Szymanski demonstrates a full commitment to small business participation, directing 100% of his procurements under the Total Small Business Set-Aside authority (FAR 19.5). This reflects a deliberate strategy to empower locally based and regionally rooted small enterprises capable of delivering specialized forestry and maintenance services. His contracting patterns consistently prioritize small business eligibility, ensuring economic opportunity within the rural communities surrounding the Bighorn National Forest. His procurement focus is narrowly aligned with NAICS 423830—Industrial Machinery and Equipment Merchant Wholesalers—indicating a strong emphasis on sourcing heavy-duty forestry equipment, maintenance tools, and specialized machinery used in trail construction, erosion control, and wildfire response. This specialization underscores his technical expertise in procuring durable, field-ready equipment that meets USDA and Forest Service operational standards for remote, high-traffic, and ecologically sensitive environments.