Heidi Black

Heidi Black serves as a Contracting Officer for the Tahoe National Forest under the U.S. Forest Service, where she manages the acquisition of critical infrastructure and resource management services essential to ecological stewardship and public safety. Her responsibilities include planning, soliciting, awarding, and administering contracts aligned with the agency’s mission to sustain forest health, mitigate wildfire risks, and maintain trail and road systems. She specializes in construction, site preparation, and specialized logistics contracts, ensuring compliance with federal procurement regulations and environmental performance standards. Her work directly supports operational readiness across the forest’s vast jurisdiction, balancing technical requirements with fiscal accountability and regulatory compliance. Heidi Black cultivates collaborative relationships with a diverse pool of contractors, primarily small businesses with expertise in civil construction, site development, and specialized freight services. She works closely with firms possessing proven experience in remote-area operations, environmental mitigation, and forest infrastructure maintenance. Her contracting approach emphasizes vendor reliability, safety compliance, and the ability to operate in sensitive ecological zones. While no single contractor dominates her portfolio, she consistently engages with firms that demonstrate strong performance histories, local presence, and capacity to meet the unique challenges of high-elevation and wildfire-prone terrains. A staunch advocate for small business participation, Heidi Black consistently prioritizes socioeconomic set-asides, with 88.9% of her acquisitions reserved for small businesses under FAR 19.5. She actively promotes opportunities for service-disabled veteran-owned and women-owned small businesses, reflecting a deliberate commitment to equitable access and community economic resilience. Her contracting patterns align with federal mandates to maximize small business utilization, and she ensures full compliance with certification verification processes under the SBA’s 8(a), SDVOSB, and WOSB programs. Her procurement focus centers on NAICS 237110 (water and sewer line construction) and 238910 (site preparation), reflecting the agency’s emphasis on watershed protection and land stabilization. She also regularly procures motor and generator equipment and specialized local trucking services to support field operations. Heidi’s technical expertise lies in managing complex, mission-critical acquisitions that require integration of environmental compliance, safety protocols, and logistical precision in remote, high-risk environments.