Justin Pappani

Justin Pappani serves as a key procurement professional within the Stewardship Contracting Branch of the U.S. Forest Service, supporting the agency’s mission to advance ecological restoration and wildfire risk reduction through integrated land management contracts. He manages complex stewardship contracting actions that combine timber harvesting with watershed restoration, trail maintenance, and invasive species control—all under the framework of landscape-scale ecological outcomes. His acquisitions are designed to deliver long-term forest health benefits while ensuring compliance with federal environmental and contracting regulations, particularly under the Stewardship Contracting Authority. He routinely handles multi-year, performance-based contracts that incentivize ecological outcomes over volume-based outputs. Pappani maintains consistent working relationships with a core group of specialized contractors, including Brink Brothers Inc., Peak Engineering LLC, Miller Timber Services, Inc., Az Hammer Down, LLC, and Dennis Kirby, all of whom possess proven expertise in forest restoration, silvicultural operations, and heavy equipment deployment in remote terrain. These partnerships reflect a preference for vendors with demonstrated capacity in ecological contracting, field-level execution, and adaptive management practices. His procurement approach emphasizes reliability, technical competence, and long-term collaboration over transactional vendor relationships. Pappani’s contracting portfolio reflects a strong preference for unrestricted competition, with 100% of awards issued under no set-aside status. While he does not prioritize socioeconomic set-asides such as 8(a), HUBZone, or SDVOSB programs, his focus remains on selecting the most technically qualified contractors capable of delivering complex, outcome-driven stewardship projects across diverse forest ecosystems. His primary procurement activity centers on NAICS 115310—Support Activities for Forestry—encompassing services such as fuel reduction, prescribed burning, road decommissioning, and forest thinning. He specializes in contracting for field-based ecological restoration services that require specialized equipment, certified personnel, and adherence to National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) protocols, demonstrating deep technical familiarity with forest management practices and federal environmental compliance.