Susan B. Phillips

Susan B. Phillips serves as a key procurement lead within the Department of Defense Education Activity’s Pacific Region Office, where she manages acquisitions critical to sustaining K–12 educational operations for military-connected students across the Indo-Pacific theater. Her responsibilities encompass the full lifecycle of contracting actions—from solicitation to award and administration—focused on supporting infrastructure, student safety, and extracurricular programming. She routinely handles complex procurements involving specialized equipment, facility-related services, and educational resources tailored to remote and overseas school environments, ensuring compliance with federal acquisition regulations and DoD policy. While specific contractor names are not publicly available, Phillips maintains a diverse vendor ecosystem that includes both large-scale suppliers and small businesses capable of delivering niche educational and recreational products. Her working relationships reflect a balanced approach, prioritizing responsiveness, technical capability, and geographic adaptability to meet the unique logistical demands of Pacific-region schools. She collaborates closely with vendors who can provide timely delivery, installation support, and maintenance for mission-critical items. Phillips demonstrates a strong commitment to small business participation, with 36.4% of her acquisitions designated as total small business set-asides under FAR 19.5. Her contracting patterns favor non-set-aside awards for broader competition, yet consistently prioritize small business inclusion, aligning with DoD’s socioeconomic goals. There is no evidence of reliance on 8(a), HUBZone, or SDVOSB set-asides, indicating a preference for broad-based small business engagement over targeted programs. Her primary procurement focus centers on NAICS 423910, reflecting significant demand for sporting and recreational goods such as athletic equipment and physical education supplies. Secondary categories include musical instrument manufacturing and specialty trade contracting, underscoring her expertise in procuring educational enrichment resources, facility upgrades, and durable recreational infrastructure essential to student development in overseas installations.