Sharla J. Lowe

Sharla J. Lowe serves as a Purchasing Agent for the Rocky Mountain Regional Office of the U.S. Forest Service, where she plays a critical role in executing mission-critical acquisitions that support ecological stewardship and operational resilience. Her responsibilities include managing the full procurement lifecycle for services essential to forest health, including building maintenance, janitorial support, and facility services across remote and high-priority public lands. She ensures compliance with federal acquisition regulations while aligning procurements with the agency’s strategic goals in wildfire mitigation, reforestation, and watershed protection. Her acquisitions directly enable field operations by maintaining infrastructure integrity and supporting workforce readiness in challenging environments. Lowe collaborates with a network of small business vendors specializing in facility services and environmental maintenance, fostering long-term partnerships grounded in reliability and regulatory compliance. While no single contractor dominates her portfolio, she consistently engages with local and regional service providers capable of delivering responsive, scalable support across the Rocky Mountain region’s diverse topography. Her procurement approach emphasizes performance-based outcomes, contract administration rigor, and vendor accountability to ensure service continuity in federally managed wilderness and recreation areas. A staunch advocate for small business participation, Lowe applies a 100% small business set-aside strategy across all eligible procurements, fully leveraging FAR 19.5 to maximize economic opportunity for disadvantaged entrepreneurs. Her contracting patterns reflect a deliberate commitment to socioeconomic equity, prioritizing service-disabled veteran-owned, HUBZone, and woman-owned small businesses within the building services sector. This approach not only fulfills statutory mandates but also strengthens community resilience through localized economic investment. Her primary procurement focus centers on NAICS 561790 (Other Services to Buildings and Dwellings) and NAICS 561720 (Janitorial Services), encompassing custodial operations, waste management, facility repairs, and preventive maintenance for ranger stations, visitor centers, and field offices. She possesses deep technical expertise in service-level agreement design, performance metrics for custodial standards, and the unique logistical demands of maintaining infrastructure in ecologically sensitive and geographically isolated regions.