Karen A. Schroeder

Karen A. Schroeder serves as a key procurement professional within the IT Contracting Division - PL84 of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), supporting the Department of Defense’s mission to secure and modernize enterprise-scale information technology infrastructure. She manages complex acquisitions for cloud-based systems, legacy modernization initiatives, and secure computing environments, ensuring alignment with DoD cyber resilience standards. Her work centers on delivering scalable, mission-critical IT services that replace outdated mainframe architectures with agile, cloud-native solutions, often under stringent compliance frameworks such as FedRAMP and NIST SP 800-53. Schroeder maintains strong, sustained relationships with principal contractors including International Business Machines Corporation and Iron Bow Technologies, LLC, reflecting a preference for vendors with deep expertise in enterprise IT modernization and hybrid cloud integration. Her contracting patterns demonstrate a reliance on established industry leaders capable of delivering large-scale, mission-essential services under performance-based contracts, while also engaging partners with proven experience in DoD-specific security protocols and migration methodologies. Her procurement portfolio exhibits a balanced approach to socioeconomic contracting, with approximately one-third of awards designated as total small business set-asides under FAR 19.5, indicating a deliberate commitment to expanding opportunities for qualified small businesses in the defense IT sector. While the majority of acquisitions remain open to all competitors, her consistent use of small business set-asides underscores a strategic effort to diversify the vendor base and foster innovation from non-traditional defense contractors. Schroeder’s acquisitions are exclusively focused on NAICS 541519 (Other Computer Related Services), encompassing managed cloud services, systems integration, cybersecurity support, and legacy system decommissioning. She specializes in procuring technical services that enable secure, scalable, and interoperable IT environments, with a clear emphasis on transitioning DoD systems to resilient, cloud-first architectures that meet evolving operational and compliance requirements.