Paulette J. Gordon

Paulette J. Gordon serves as Supervisory Incident Contract Officer for the USDA Forest Service, where she leads the acquisition of critical logistical and operational support for wildland fire suppression and emergency incident response. In this role, she oversees the procurement of specialized equipment, mobile command infrastructure, and field-based services essential to maintaining operational readiness across national forests and grasslands. Her portfolio includes time-sensitive, mission-critical contracts that require rapid deployment capabilities, often under dynamic incident conditions. She ensures compliance with federal acquisition regulations while aligning procurement decisions with the Forest Service’s strategic priorities in resource conservation and emergency management. While specific contractor names are not publicly available, Gordon maintains a robust network of vendors capable of delivering specialized technical and logistical support under exigent conditions. Her working relationships emphasize agility, reliability, and compliance with incident response protocols, fostering partnerships with firms experienced in rapid mobilization, field communications, and remote operations support. She prioritizes vendors with proven capacity to deliver under high-pressure, geographically dispersed environments, ensuring seamless integration of contracted services into active incident management frameworks. Gordon demonstrates a strong commitment to socioeconomic contracting, with 85.7% of her acquisitions designated for Small Business Set-Asides under FAR 19.5. Her procurement patterns consistently favor small businesses, including 8(a), HUBZone, and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, reflecting the Forest Service’s mission to expand economic opportunity while enhancing supply chain resilience. This focus ensures diverse vendor participation and strengthens local and regional economic ties in communities adjacent to federal lands. Her primary procurement focus lies in NAICS categories including Custom Computer Programming Services (541511) and Other Communications Equipment Manufacturing (334290), reflecting expertise in field-deployable IT and communications systems. She also regularly procures specialized freight services (484220), janitorial support (561720), and food service contracts (722310) to sustain incident personnel. Her technical domain expertise centers on mission-critical infrastructure, mobile command systems, and logistics support essential to wildland fire and emergency response operations.