Kim Earney

Kim Earney serves as a Supervisory Engineering Technician at the Mark Twain National Forest, overseeing the planning, solicitation, and administration of construction and land management contracts essential to the U.S. Forest Service’s mission of sustainable forest stewardship. In this role, she ensures that infrastructure projects—from trail and road maintenance to watershed protection systems—align with federal environmental and engineering standards. She is instrumental in developing technical specifications, evaluating contractor proposals, and managing compliance with National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) requirements. Her acquisitions directly support ecological resilience, wildfire mitigation, and public access improvements across the forest’s 1.5 million acres. Earney collaborates closely with a network of small, locally based contractors specializing in civil construction, ecological landscaping, and water resource infrastructure. She fosters long-term partnerships with firms possessing proven expertise in native vegetation restoration, erosion control, and low-impact road construction. Her procurement approach emphasizes reliability, environmental compliance, and performance-based outcomes, often requiring contractors to demonstrate experience with USDA-specific protocols and field logistics in remote, ecologically sensitive terrain. A staunch advocate for small business participation, Earney directs 100% of her procurements toward total small business set-asides under FAR 19.5, ensuring equitable access for service-disabled veteran-owned, HUBZone, and economically disadvantaged firms. Her contracting patterns reflect a deliberate strategy to strengthen regional economic resilience while building a pipeline of qualified, mission-aligned vendors capable of executing complex land management tasks under challenging conditions. Her primary procurement focus lies in NAICS 237310 (highway, street, and bridge construction), 561730 (landscaping services), and 221310 (water supply and irrigation systems). She specializes in acquiring services that restore native habitats, stabilize streambanks, maintain recreational trails, and implement sustainable water management systems—all critical to the forest’s ecological integrity and public safety.