Paula J Frickey

Paula J. Frickey serves as a Contracting Officer for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), where she leads the acquisition of mission-critical scientific and technical services to support oceanic, atmospheric, and coastal research. In this role, she manages the full lifecycle of federal contracts under FAR and NOAA-specific directives, ensuring compliance with statutory requirements while advancing the agency’s goals in environmental monitoring, climate modeling, and marine ecosystem protection. Her portfolio primarily encompasses complex research and technology contracts, including instrumentation development, data analytics platforms, and scientific consulting services essential to NOAA’s operational and observational infrastructure. Frickey maintains consistent procurement relationships with a select group of specialized contractors, including the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board, Tronconi Segarra & Associates LLP, JNB Services LLC, Pure Enviro-Management, LLC, and The Regents of the University of Colorado. These partnerships reflect a preference for entities with proven expertise in environmental science, technical consulting, and research support, often involving long-term, performance-based agreements that require high levels of technical collaboration and regulatory alignment. While the majority of her acquisitions (81.8%) are conducted without set-asides, Frickey demonstrates a meaningful commitment to small business participation, with 18.2% of her awards structured as Total Small Business Set-Asides under FAR 19.5. She actively promotes competition among qualified small businesses, particularly those with scientific and technical capabilities aligned with NOAA’s mission, without prioritizing specific socioeconomic categories such as 8(a) or HUBZone. Her procurement focus is heavily concentrated in NAICS 927110 (Space Research and Technology), reflecting her leadership in acquiring advanced remote sensing systems, satellite data processing tools, and environmental modeling platforms. She also regularly procures scientific consulting services (NAICS 541690) and specialized technical support (NAICS 811219 and 423430), underscoring her deep expertise in acquiring high-precision, mission-critical technologies for Earth system science.