Natalie Barnett

Natalie Barnett serves as a key procurement liaison within the Oak Ridge Office of the Department of Energy, supporting mission-critical acquisitions in scientific and technical services. Though holding no formal contracting title, she plays a vital secondary role in facilitating the planning, evaluation, and execution of contracts that sustain advanced research infrastructure, high-performance computing environments, and scientific communication systems. Her work directly enables the agency’s priorities in artificial intelligence, data analytics, and nuclear science by ensuring timely access to specialized professional services. She routinely engages in the acquisition of complex, non-standard technical support solutions requiring deep domain expertise and rigorous compliance with federal procurement standards. Barnett maintains consistent working relationships with primary contractors Black Hills Service Company, LLC and AJCE Corporation, both of which provide specialized technical support, information services, and publishing solutions tailored to DOE’s research ecosystem. These partnerships are characterized by long-term operational alignment, with vendors frequently re-engaged for follow-on efforts requiring continuity of institutional knowledge and secure infrastructure integration. Her procurement approach emphasizes vendor reliability, technical precision, and compliance with national security protocols over competitive bidding alone. Her contracting activity reflects a strict preference for non-set-aside acquisitions, with 100% of awards issued under open competition. This indicates a focus on technical merit and capability over socioeconomic categorization, aligning with the agency’s need for highly specialized, often classified, expertise that may not be widely available among small business pools. Barnett’s procurement focus is exclusively centered on NAICS 541990—All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services—encompassing advanced scientific publishing, technical documentation, data management, and mission-specific IT support services. She routinely sources contractors capable of delivering high-integrity information systems, computational research tools, and secure knowledge dissemination platforms essential to the Department of Energy’s national security and energy innovation missions.