Laura B. Harshbarger

Laura B. Harshbarger serves as a key procurement professional within the Federal Emergency Management Agency, supporting the agency’s mission to enhance national resilience through strategic acquisitions of critical emergency response and recovery capabilities. She manages a diverse portfolio of contracts focused on incident management systems, logistical support, and technical services essential to disaster preparedness and recovery operations. Her work directly enables FEMA’s coordination with state and local partners by securing specialized services that bolster operational continuity during crises, with a strong emphasis on acquisition compliance under the Federal Acquisition Regulation. Harshbarger maintains longstanding relationships with leading contractors including CH2M HILL, IBM, WSP USA, and RESILIENCE ACTION PARTNERS, reflecting a preference for established firms with proven expertise in disaster recovery, emergency communications, and systems integration. Her contracting patterns indicate a reliance on both large-scale technical service providers and specialized joint ventures, often structured under indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) or task order mechanisms to ensure rapid mobilization during evolving emergencies. Her procurement strategy prioritizes broad competition, with half of her awards conducted without set-asides, yet she demonstrates a robust commitment to small business participation, particularly through 8(a) competed contracts, which account for over 40% of her awards. This reflects a deliberate effort to integrate socioeconomically disadvantaged firms into FEMA’s critical supply chain while maintaining operational readiness. Harshbarger’s primary NAICS focus areas include administrative and management consulting services, security and patrol operations, and specialized manufacturing of analytical and measuring instruments. These reflect her expertise in procuring technical support for emergency response infrastructure, laboratory diagnostics for hazard detection, and operational management services that underpin FEMA’s incident command systems and field deployment capabilities.