Mildred Barnett

Mildred Barnett serves as a key procurement lead within the Farm Production and Conservation Business Center’s Acquisition Division, supporting the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s mission to advance land conservation and soil health through expert technical services. She manages the full lifecycle of acquisitions for field-level conservation initiatives, including soil preparation, planting, and land easement restoration activities. Her work ensures that federal conservation programs are enabled by high-quality engineering, data analytics, and on-the-ground agricultural services, directly linking procurement decisions to sustainable land management outcomes. She specializes in soliciting and awarding contracts for technical services that support NRCS-aligned conservation planning and precision agriculture implementation. Barnett maintains consistent working relationships with a small, specialized pool of contractors including PROJECTELLA LLC, HOMESTEAD SERVICES, LLC, and JANIE B LLC, all of which provide niche expertise in agricultural land management, conservation engineering, and ecological restoration services. These partnerships reflect a pattern of long-term, performance-based engagements rather than transactional procurements, indicating a preference for vendors with proven field experience and technical credibility in rural resource planning. Her contracting approach emphasizes reliability, compliance with USDA conservation standards, and operational continuity across multi-year initiatives. Barnett’s procurement portfolio is entirely non-set-aside, with 100% of awards issued under full and open competition. This reflects a strategic focus on selecting the most technically qualified providers regardless of socioeconomic designation, prioritizing domain expertise over certification status. While small business participation is not mandated through set-asides, her award patterns suggest that qualified small firms are competitively selected based on technical merit and past performance. Her primary procurement focus is on NAICS 115112—Soil Preparation, Planting, and Cultivating—which encompasses a range of specialized services including conservation tillage, cover cropping, erosion control, and land rehabilitation. She procures technical services that support data-driven land use planning, precision conservation practices, and compliance with federal environmental stewardship standards, ensuring that agricultural infrastructure investments yield measurable ecological and agronomic outcomes.