Margaret Forrest

Margaret Forrest serves as a Contracting Officer for the USDA Forest Service, where she plays a pivotal role in securing critical services and equipment essential to the agency’s mission of sustaining national forest and grassland ecosystems. She manages a diverse portfolio of acquisitions focused on operational readiness, ecological restoration, and infrastructure resilience in remote and rugged environments. Her procurement activities center on supporting wildfire mitigation, invasive species control, and emergency response operations, ensuring the Forest Service maintains high levels of field readiness through timely and compliant contract awards. Forrest maintains consistent working relationships with a select group of contractors, including ACI FEDERAL INC, ONE STOP RECRUITING LLC, GONDO ROY E MD, THE LOCUMS CO, LLC, and AMD INTERNATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES LLC. These partnerships reflect a blend of specialized staffing, technical support, and equipment solutions tailored to the agency’s unique operational needs. Her contracting patterns emphasize reliability, compliance, and mission alignment, often engaging vendors with proven experience in federal land management environments and remote-service delivery. A steadfast advocate for small business participation, Forrest exclusively utilizes Total Small Business Set-Aside authorities under FAR 19.5, ensuring all her acquisitions are reserved for small business concerns. This unwavering commitment reflects a broader agency priority to foster economic opportunity and enhance competition among qualified small vendors. Her contracting approach prioritizes socioeconomic equity, consistently channeling opportunities to small businesses without further subclassification, reinforcing the Forest Service’s dedication to inclusive procurement. Her primary procurement focus lies in NAICS 561720 (Janitorial Services), which accounts for 60% of her activity, supporting sanitation and facility maintenance across ranger stations and field camps. An additional 40% is split between NAICS 333112 (lawn and garden equipment manufacturing) and 532412 (construction and forestry equipment leasing), underscoring her expertise in procuring specialized machinery and maintenance tools critical to forest operations and trail infrastructure upkeep.