Rick Driggs

Rick Driggs serves as a Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) for the USDA Forest Service, providing critical oversight of acquisitions aligned with the agency’s mission to sustain forest and grassland ecosystems. In this role, he ensures contractor performance meets technical, safety, and operational standards for infrastructure, resource management, and emergency response initiatives. Driggs primarily supports construction, logging, and field operations contracts, acting as the primary liaison between contracting officers and on-the-ground contractors to validate compliance with federal regulations and performance metrics. His expertise lies in monitoring complex, mission-critical procurements in remote and rugged environments, ensuring that all deliverables support ecological restoration, wildfire mitigation, and infrastructure resilience. Driggs maintains consistent working relationships with key contractors including ACI FEDERAL INC, ONE STOP RECRUITING LLC, GONDO ROY E MD, THE LOCUMS CO, LLC, and AMD INTERNATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES LLC. These partnerships reflect a blend of specialized construction firms, workforce staffing providers, and technical service vendors critical to sustaining Forest Service operations. His approach emphasizes performance-based outcomes, with a focus on contractors who demonstrate proven experience in federal land management environments and can rapidly deploy personnel and equipment under challenging conditions. A strong advocate for small business participation, Driggs consistently prioritizes set-aside opportunities, with over 55% of his acquisitions designated as Total Small Business Set-Asides under FAR 19.5. An additional 11% are allocated to HUBZone firms, underscoring his commitment to economic development in rural and underserved communities. His contracting patterns reflect a deliberate strategy to maximize small business engagement while maintaining operational readiness across federal lands. His procurement focus is dominated by NAICS 237310 (Highway, Street, and Bridge Construction), accounting for nearly 78% of his portfolio, reflecting the agency’s need for resilient transportation infrastructure in forested regions. The remaining 22% centers on NAICS 113310 (Logging), supporting sustainable timber management and forest health initiatives. Driggs brings deep domain expertise in managing construction and resource extraction contracts under stringent environmental and safety standards, ensuring compliance with NEPA, ESA, and other federal mandates.