Veronica Merwin G Charles

Veronica Merwin G. Charles serves as a Purchasing Agent at Base Alameda (70Z031), a critical U.S. Coast Guard facility under the Department of Homeland Security. In this role, she manages the acquisition of construction services and specialized equipment essential to sustaining and modernizing maritime infrastructure across the Pacific region. Her responsibilities include executing full lifecycle procurement activities—from market research and solicitation development to contract award and administration—ensuring compliance with FAR, DFARS, and Coast Guard-specific policies. She supports the agency’s mission of maintaining safe, resilient, and environmentally compliant facilities for operational stations, housing, and support sites, with a strong emphasis on workforce safety and infrastructure readiness. Veronica works closely with a diverse pool of small business contractors, particularly those certified under socioeconomic programs, to fulfill the agency’s procurement objectives. While no single contractor dominates her portfolio, she maintains consistent partnerships with firms specializing in industrial and commercial construction, as well as manufacturers of heavy machinery used in facility maintenance. Her contracting approach emphasizes transparency, competitive bidding, and vendor collaboration to ensure timely delivery of mission-critical goods and services. A staunch advocate for small business participation, Veronica consistently applies a 100% small business set-aside preference across her acquisitions, aligning with FAR 19.5 and agency-wide socioeconomic goals. Her contracting patterns reflect a deliberate focus on empowering small, disadvantaged, and service-disabled veteran-owned enterprises, ensuring equitable access to federal opportunities while fostering local economic resilience. Her primary procurement focus lies in NAICS 236210 (Industrial Building Construction) and 236220 (Commercial and Institutional Building Construction), where she oversees facility upgrades, repairs, and new construction projects. She also actively procures equipment under NAICS 333111 (Farm Machinery and Equipment Manufacturing), reflecting the need for heavy-duty, mission-specific machinery used in base maintenance and environmental operations. Her technical expertise spans facility lifecycle management, construction standards compliance, and procurement of specialized mechanical systems integral to Coast Guard operational readiness.