Michelle Y. Lappen

Michelle Y. Lappen serves as a key procurement lead within the W07V Endist New Orleans office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, overseeing the acquisition of civil infrastructure projects critical to Gulf Coast resilience. She manages a portfolio of complex engineering and construction contracts focused on flood risk reduction, coastal restoration, and hydraulic system development, ensuring alignment with federal water resource policies and environmental compliance standards. Her work directly supports the agency’s mission to safeguard vulnerable communities through durable, large-scale civil works, coordinating across technical, environmental, and logistical domains to deliver mission-critical infrastructure. Lappen maintains consistent partnerships with top-tier contractors specializing in heavy civil construction, including WEEKS MARINE, INC., M.R. PITTMAN GROUP, L.L.C., and MUDDY WATER DREDGING, LP, reflecting a preference for firms with proven expertise in dredging, coastal engineering, and marine construction. Her contracting patterns emphasize long-term vendor relationships built on technical proficiency and performance reliability, often awarding task orders to contractors with established regional experience in Louisiana’s unique hydrological environments. These partnerships are strategically cultivated to ensure continuity in complex, multi-year infrastructure initiatives. Her procurement strategy prioritizes open competition, with 71.1% of awards issued without set-aside restrictions, yet she actively supports small business participation through Total Small Business Set-Asides at 22.2%, with targeted HUBZone and 8(a) awards comprising 4.4% and 2.2% respectively. This balanced approach ensures market competitiveness while fostering economic opportunity among qualified disadvantaged and regionally based firms. Lappen’s primary procurement focus lies in NAICS 237990 (Other Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction), with significant activity in concrete product manufacturing (327390) and engineering services (541330). She routinely procures specialized services for levee reinforcement, channel stabilization, sediment management, and marine structure fabrication, demonstrating deep technical expertise in hydraulic engineering and coastal infrastructure lifecycle management.