Jim Simmons

Jim Simmons serves as a key procurement lead within the Stewardship Contracting Branch of the U.S. Forest Service, where he facilitates landscape-scale ecological restoration contracts aligned with the agency’s mission to enhance forest resilience and reduce wildfire risk. He manages a portfolio of stewardship contracting actions that integrate timber harvesting with watershed protection, trail maintenance, and habitat restoration, ensuring compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act and the Healthy Forests Restoration Act. His acquisitions are designed to deliver long-term ecological outcomes through performance-based, results-oriented contracts that incentivize sustainable resource management and collaborative land stewardship. Simmons maintains consistent working relationships with a core group of experienced forestry contractors, including Brink Brothers Inc., Peak Engineering LLC, Miller Timber Services, Inc., AZ Hammer Down, LLC, and Dennis Kirby. These vendors specialize in silvicultural operations, heavy equipment logging, fuel reduction, and ecological infrastructure projects, demonstrating proven technical capacity in complex, multi-objective stewardship contracting. His procurement approach emphasizes reliability, operational expertise, and adherence to ecological standards, fostering long-term partnerships with contractors who have demonstrated success in implementing integrated forest management plans across federal lands. Simmons exclusively utilizes no set-aside procurement mechanisms, with 100% of his acquisitions awarded through full and open competition. This reflects a strategic focus on selecting the most technically qualified and capable performers regardless of socioeconomic status, prioritizing outcome delivery and operational readiness over mandated set-asides. While small businesses are eligible and often compete successfully, his contracting pattern is driven by technical merit and past performance rather than socioeconomic preferences. His procurement activity is entirely focused on NAICS 115310—Support Activities for Forestry—encompassing fuel reduction, prescribed burning, road decommissioning, invasive species control, and forest thinning services. He specializes in complex, multi-year stewardship contracts that bundle ecological restoration with timber removal, requiring deep domain expertise in forest ecology, timber harvesting regulations, and environmental compliance frameworks.