Mercedes Cook

Mercedes Cook serves as a Contract Specialist with the USDA Forest Service–SPOC NW, where she plays a pivotal role in executing procurements that advance the agency’s mission of ecological restoration and public infrastructure resilience. She manages the full lifecycle of acquisition actions for critical projects including trail and bridge rehabilitation, wildfire mitigation infrastructure, reforestation support, and maintenance of remote administrative and recreational facilities. Her work ensures compliance with federal acquisition regulations while aligning contracting decisions with the agency’s environmental stewardship goals and public safety priorities. Cook collaborates with a diverse network of contractors specializing in forestry support services, civil construction, and facility maintenance. While no single vendor dominates her portfolio, she consistently engages small businesses and niche firms with proven expertise in ecological restoration, remote-site construction, and sustainable land management practices. Her procurement approach emphasizes performance-based contracting and long-term vendor partnerships that prioritize technical competence, environmental compliance, and operational reliability in challenging terrain. A strong advocate for socioeconomic inclusion, Cook directs over 62% of her acquisitions toward total small business set-asides under FAR 19.5, with an additional 12.5% reserved for HUBZone firms. Her contracting patterns reflect a deliberate strategy to expand economic opportunity for underserved communities while ensuring access to specialized capabilities needed for remote, high-risk projects. She actively promotes small business participation through pre-solicitation outreach and clear evaluation criteria that reward local presence and environmental expertise. Her primary procurement focus lies in NAICS 115310 (Support Activities for Forestry), encompassing services like vegetation management, erosion control, and ecological monitoring. She also regularly procures highway and bridge construction (237310), roofing (238160), and water/sewer infrastructure (237110) to support forest service facilities. Cook’s domain expertise centers on mission-critical, environmentally sensitive construction and restoration projects requiring precise regulatory alignment and adaptive field execution.