Roberta Plum

Roberta Plum supports the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in executing critical procurement activities aligned with the agency’s mission to advance environmental science and operational resilience. Though her official title is not specified, her procurement focus centers on securing technical services and infrastructure essential to NOAA’s data collection, modeling, and monitoring capabilities. She manages acquisitions primarily in computing infrastructure and equipment maintenance, ensuring the agency’s scientific systems remain operational, secure, and scalable. Her work directly enables NOAA’s ability to deliver accurate weather forecasts, oceanographic data, and coastal resilience tools to federal, state, and public stakeholders. Plum maintains consistent relationships with a select group of contractors, including 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 blend of academic, commercial, and specialized service providers, indicating a preference for firms with proven expertise in environmental data systems, cloud-based computing platforms, and industrial maintenance services. Her contracting patterns suggest a focus on long-term, performance-based engagements rather than transactional purchases, emphasizing reliability and technical alignment with NOAA’s scientific objectives. Her procurement strategy prioritizes open competition, with 66.7% of awards issued without set-aside designations, while 33.3% are structured as total small business set-asides under FAR 19.5. This balance demonstrates a deliberate commitment to fostering small business participation without compromising access to specialized capabilities. She does not appear to favor specific socioeconomic categories like 8(a) or HUBZone, but rather leverages the full small business ecosystem to meet technical needs. Plum’s primary NAICS focus is 518210, indicating heavy procurement of data processing, web hosting, and computing infrastructure services critical to NOAA’s real-time environmental modeling systems. The secondary focus on 811310 underscores her role in sustaining specialized instrumentation and industrial equipment used in field deployments and laboratory environments. Her expertise lies at the intersection of environmental science and information technology, ensuring NOAA’s operational systems remain robust and mission-ready.