Lori Austad

Lori Austad serves as a key procurement lead within the R1 Regional Office of the U.S. Forest Service, managing acquisitions that support the sustainable stewardship of national forest lands across remote and ecologically sensitive regions. She oversees contracts critical to infrastructure resilience, including trail and road maintenance, wildfire mitigation systems, and operational support services essential to field operations. Her role ensures alignment with the agency’s mission to protect forest health while enabling safe public access, requiring precise application of federal acquisition regulations to meet complex logistical and environmental constraints. Austad routinely handles service-based and construction-related procurements requiring specialized technical expertise and compliance with land-use restrictions. Austad maintains collaborative relationships with a diverse pool of vendors specializing in forestry support, structural construction, and remote-access equipment. While specific contractor names are not publicly disclosed, her procurement patterns reflect consistent engagement with firms capable of operating in rugged terrain, adhering to NEPA and ESA requirements, and delivering mission-critical services under tight operational timelines. She fosters partnerships with contractors experienced in ecological restoration, forest road engineering, and emergency response logistics, ensuring alignment with federal environmental standards and field readiness. Austad demonstrates a steadfast commitment to small business participation, with 100% of her acquisitions designated as total small business set-asides under FAR 19.5. This reflects a deliberate strategy to prioritize economic opportunity for small, locally rooted firms, particularly those with domain-specific capabilities in forestry support and rural infrastructure. Her contracting patterns consistently channel opportunities to small businesses without further socioeconomic sub-set-asides, emphasizing broad-based participation over targeted categories. Her primary procurement focus centers on NAICS 115310 (Support Activities for Forestry), encompassing forest thinning, fuel reduction, and invasive species control, followed by NAICS 238120 (Structural Steel and Precast Concrete Contractors) for trailhead and ranger station construction. She also procures specialized handtools and equipment under NAICS 333991 and highway infrastructure services under NAICS 237310, demonstrating deep technical familiarity with field operations and rural transportation systems essential to forest management.