Maria Santiago

Maria Santiago serves as a procurement specialist within the Federal Protective Service West Coast Contracting Group, supporting the Department of Homeland Security’s mission to secure federal facilities across the West Coast. She manages the acquisition of integrated security systems and protective personnel services critical to safeguarding courthouses, immigration centers, and other federal infrastructure. Her responsibilities include planning, soliciting, evaluating, and awarding contracts under the Office of Procurement Operations, ensuring compliance with federal acquisition regulations and aligning procurements with operational security requirements. She routinely handles complex service-based acquisitions requiring technical evaluation of surveillance systems, access control technologies, and manned guarding contracts. Maria cultivates partnerships with a diverse range of vendors specializing in physical security solutions and protective services. She works closely with contractors offering perimeter security systems, intrusion detection platforms, and trained security guard services, fostering long-term vendor relationships built on performance accountability and regulatory compliance. Her procurement approach emphasizes clear performance metrics, task order flexibility, and contractor responsiveness to evolving threat environments, ensuring that federal facilities remain protected through adaptable and reliable service delivery. Maria demonstrates a strong commitment to socioeconomic contracting, with over half of her acquisitions set aside for small businesses under FAR 19.5. She consistently prioritizes Women-Owned Small Businesses and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses, reflecting a deliberate strategy to expand opportunities for underrepresented contractors. Her award patterns reveal a structured emphasis on inclusive procurement, ensuring that small business participation is not only encouraged but integral to achieving mission-critical security outcomes. Her primary technical focus lies in NAICS 561621 for security systems services and 561612 for security guard and patrol services, reflecting deep expertise in physical security infrastructure and personnel deployment. She also manages ancillary support services such as facility maintenance and environmental services, ensuring holistic facility protection. Maria’s domain knowledge spans electronic access control, alarm monitoring, and security operations management, positioning her as a strategic procurement leader in federal physical security procurement.