Darlene Bullock

E. Darlene Bullock’s January 2020 appointment as the Executive Director of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) is in succession to her service as the OSDBU Deputy Director from 2015 to late 2019. As the Executive Director, Ms. Bullock is responsible for implementing the Department’s small business procurement programs across DHS’s $26 billion procurement operation, which awards over $9.9 billion each year to small businesses. Darlene received the Small Business and Procurement Equity Individual Award as part of the Chief Acquisition Officers Council’s 2023 Acquisition Excellence Awards in October 2023. Ms. Bullock’s various roles and work in the OSDBU, has helped DHS achieve consecutive scores of an “A” or “A+”, since Fiscal Year 2009, making DHS the largest federal agency to have such a consistent success record on Small Business Administration’s annual Small Business Procurement Scorecard.

Before joining the OSDBU, Ms. Bullock was a Division Director and Contracting Officer in the DHS, Office of Procurement Operations (OPO). OPO is one of the largest procurement divisions in DHS obligating about $5 billion a year. Her division supported the Office of the Secretary and other high-visibility DHS Headquarters offices. Ms. Bullock oversaw and managed the award process of the first DHS-wide Program Management, Administrative, Clerical, and Technical Services (PACTS) Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Contracts which were set-aside for Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSBs). PACTS had an estimated value of $1.5 billion. The creation and award of the PACTS vehicle has enabled DHS to meet and exceed the previous 3% SDVOSB goal since Fiscal Year 2010.
With over 32 years of experience in procurement, federal assistance, and acquisitions management, Ms. Bullock has held leadership positions at several Federal and local agencies including DHS, U.S. Agency for International Development, U. S. Department of Commerce, District of Columbia Government, and the U.S. Army.

Ms. Bullock began her acquisition career with the U.S. Army, successfully completing the Department of Defense contract specialist intern program. She was a Certified Federal Contract Manager (CFCM) with the National Contract Management Association (NCMA) and maintains her FAC-C Professional Certification (previously FAC-C Level III) Certification in Contracting. She has completed various Federal Executive leadership courses in her career. She has an undergraduate degree in Agricultural Business and Resource Economics from the University of Maryland, College Park, and an MBA in International Management from Southeastern University.