Kenneth Desmarais

Kenneth Desmarais serves as a key procurement professional 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, habitat improvement, and infrastructure maintenance, ensuring compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act and the Stewardship Contracting Authority. His acquisitions are designed to deliver long-term ecological outcomes through performance-based, results-oriented contracts that incentivize sustainable resource management and collaborative land use. Desmarais 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. These partners are selected for their technical expertise in forest restoration, heavy equipment operations, and ecological implementation, often performing complex, multi-year tasks that require on-the-ground adaptability and environmental compliance. His procurement approach emphasizes long-term vendor partnerships built on demonstrated capability, safety records, and proven success in remote, ecologically sensitive environments. His contracting activity reflects a strong preference for unrestricted, open competition, with 100% of awards issued under no set-aside designation. This reflects the specialized nature of stewardship contracting, where the technical scope and scale of work often require established firms with proven capacity rather than socioeconomic set-asides. While small business participation is not formally prioritized through set-aside mechanisms, the nature of the work allows for subcontracting and teaming arrangements that may indirectly support smaller entities. The primary NAICS code underpinning his portfolio is 115310 (Support Activities for Forestry), encompassing services such as fuel reduction, road decommissioning, stream restoration, and timber sale administration. His expertise lies in procuring complex, integrated ecological services rather than discrete goods, requiring deep domain knowledge in forest ecology, silviculture, and environmental regulation.