Kathleen A. Kern

Kathleen A. Kern serves as a Contract Specialist for the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA), where she manages the full lifecycle of procurement actions supporting K-12 educational infrastructure across global military communities. Her responsibilities include soliciting, evaluating, and awarding contracts for critical services that sustain school operations, from transportation and facility upgrades to technology-enabled learning environments. Kern ensures compliance with FAR regulations while aligning acquisitions with DoDEA’s mission of delivering equitable, high-quality education to military-connected students. She routinely handles complex, multi-year contracts requiring coordination with facility managers, curriculum specialists, and logistics teams to meet the unique demands of overseas and domestic DoD installations. Kern maintains consistent working relationships with a core group of contractors, including AMD International Technologies LLC, CoreTech Consulting Inc., Effective Communication Strategies LLC, Residential Enhancements, Inc., and FGI Solutions LLC. These partnerships reflect a focus on specialized service providers capable of delivering tailored solutions for school operations, from IT support and communications systems to facility improvements. Her contracting approach emphasizes performance-based outcomes, vendor accountability, and long-term operational reliability, fostering collaborative, results-driven vendor relationships. Kern’s procurement strategy prioritizes open competition, with approximately 80% of awards issued under no set-aside conditions. However, she actively supports small business participation, consistently allocating 20% of contracts as Total Small Business Set-Asides under FAR 19.5. While she does not routinely utilize 8(a), HUBZone, or SDVOSB set-asides, her pattern demonstrates a deliberate commitment to expanding opportunities for qualified small businesses in support of DoDEA’s operational needs. Her primary procurement focus centers on NAICS 485410 (School and Employee Bus Transportation), accounting for 60% of her portfolio, followed by NAICS 238210 (Electrical Contractors) and NAICS 541519 (Other Computer Related Services). This reflects deep expertise in procuring transportation logistics, electrical infrastructure upgrades, and IT support services essential to maintaining safe, functional, and technologically enabled learning environments across DoDEA’s dispersed school network.