Lori T. Kliethermes

Lori T. Kliethermes serves as an Acquisition Program Specialist for the 6982AF Central Federal Lands Division within the Federal Highway Administration, where she plays a pivotal role in managing the acquisition lifecycle for critical transportation infrastructure projects across federally managed lands. Her responsibilities include planning, soliciting, evaluating, and awarding contracts for highway, bridge, and civil engineering works that ensure safe and sustainable access to national parks, forests, and Native American territories. She specializes in complex construction procurements under the Federal Acquisition Regulation, coordinating with engineers, project managers, and stakeholders to align contracting strategies with operational needs and federal compliance requirements. Kliethermes maintains strong, recurring relationships with a core group of experienced contractors, including STEELHEAD CONSTRUCTORS JV, HERBACK GENERAL ENGINEERING LLC, SEB ENGINEERING INC., S.T. RHODES CONSTRUCTION INCORPORATED, and MCCULLOUGH CONSTRUCTION INC. These partnerships reflect a preference for established firms with proven capabilities in heavy civil construction and site-specific engineering solutions. Her procurement approach emphasizes performance-based outcomes, technical competency, and past performance evaluation, fostering long-term vendor collaboration grounded in reliability and regulatory adherence. Her contracting patterns show a primary emphasis on open competitions, with 65.6% of awards issued without set-asides, yet she consistently supports small business participation through Total Small Business Set-Asides (18.8%) and HUBZone Set-Asides (15.6%). This balanced strategy ensures competitive rigor while actively promoting economic opportunity for qualified small and disadvantaged firms within the construction sector. Her technical domain centers on NAICS 237310 (Highway, Street, and Bridge Construction), which accounts for over 64% of her portfolio, supplemented by support services such as professional training and landscaping. Kliethermes’ expertise lies in procuring large-scale, mission-critical civil infrastructure projects that demand precision in design, safety compliance, and environmental stewardship, making her a key enabler of the FHWA’s mission to sustain transportation access across America’s most remote federal lands.