Rachael Vargas

Rachael Vargas serves as a secondary procurement liaison within the DOL’s Cas Division 5 Procurement, supporting the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management in advancing data-driven labor policy initiatives. She facilitates the acquisition of specialized technical services critical to the collection, analysis, and dissemination of national employment and economic data. Her role involves coordinating the procurement lifecycle for research, analytical, and operational support contracts, ensuring alignment with the agency’s mission to deliver high-integrity labor market insights. She typically handles complex, performance-based acquisitions for professional scientific and technical services, often requiring subject-matter expertise in survey design, statistical modeling, and data systems integration. While no primary contractor relationships are currently identified in the procurement record, Vargas engages with a diverse ecosystem of vendors specializing in public opinion polling, social science research, and technical consulting. Her procurement patterns reflect a preference for firms with demonstrated capacity in longitudinal survey execution, labor economics analysis, and data visualization platforms. She works collaboratively with program officers and subject matter experts to define requirements, evaluate technical proposals, and ensure contract deliverables meet rigorous federal standards for data accuracy and methodological transparency. Vargas’s contracting activity is entirely non-set-aside, with 100% of procurements conducted under full and open competition. This reflects a strategic focus on securing the highest-quality technical capabilities regardless of business size or socioeconomic status, prioritizing merit-based selection over mandated set-asides. While small business participation is not formally incentivized in her portfolio, vendors of all sizes are evaluated on technical merit, past performance, and capacity to deliver mission-critical services. Her primary procurement focus centers on NAICS 541910 (Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling) and 541990 (Other Professional Services), with significant activity in 541720 (Social Science R&D) and 513120 (Periodical Publishers). She routinely procures survey instrument development, statistical analysis services, labor force data collection systems, and dissemination platforms—including digital publishing and data repository infrastructure—to support evidence-based policymaking at the national level.