One Procurement Office for Every U.S. Agency at an Overseas Post

An overseas post is a collection of competing interests under one roof. Every U.S. agency operating from Embassy Pristina had its own mission and budget cycle, its own internal stakeholders, and federal regulations governing every purchase. All of them depended on a single procurement office, so if that office bottlenecked, the post bottlenecked. Duke rose to run the entire procurement process for all of them, covering everything from staff health insurance to the local guard services protecting the compound.

1. 1
   Ran the entire procurement process for every U.S. government agency at post, one office handling every requirement
2. 2
   Supervised a team of three purchasing agents from solicitation through contract closeout
3. 3
   Led complex solicitations, including health insurance for embassy staff, travel services, and local guard services
4. 4
   Coordinated pre-award negotiations, then stayed on to administer contracts and vendor performance after award
5. 5
   Kept agencies with competing priorities and separate budget cycles moving toward decisions instead of waiting on them
6. 6
   Started at post managing property leases and inventory, serving as liaison between the General Service Officer, contractors, and landlords

Duke spent thirteen years at post, from 2003 to 2016. He joined as a General Service Assistant and was promoted to Procurement Agent and Team Supervisor, responsible for procurement across every agency at the embassy. Along the way he earned the Meritorious Honor Award and the Franklin Award. When he moved to U.S. municipal government in 2017, the same discipline carried over: he now administers over 400 active contracts for the Town of Palm Beach.