Biography of
Mark J. Lumer
Mark J. Lumer was the Principal Assistant Responsible for Contracting for the U.S. Army Space
and Missile Defense Command (SMDC), with offices in Huntsville, Alabama; Colorado Springs,
Colorado; Frederick, Maryland, Falls Church, Virginia and Kwajalein Missile Range in the
Marshall Islands. As the Director of Contracts, he oversaw over $15 billion in active contracts,
annual expenditures of about $2.5 billion and a staff of approximately 110. Mr. Lumer was a
member of the Senior Executive Service and the Army Acquisition Corps, with Level III
certifications (the highest possible) in both Contracting and Program Management. He was a
member of the Army Acquisition Governance Board, and served as a contracting officer with an
unlimited warrant for 23 years.
Mr. Lumer is, unofficially, the most decorated civilian contracting official in the history of the
U.S. Army. He retired from the civil service is Jan 2008 after almost 33 years of working for the
Department of the Army.
Mr. Lumer received his last medal, for Meritorious Civilian Service, from the Army in Nov
2008, 11 months after he retired. It is one of approximately a dozen medals he earned during his
career. On the same day, he received the President’s award from the AbilityOne program, which
represents the disabled community in the United States.
Mr. Lumer was called to testify before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Contracting on July 16,
2009 as a subject matter expert on small businesses and Alaska Native Corporations.
Prior to his retirement, Mr. Lumer received the Order of Saint Barbara in December, 2007 for his
contributions to missile defense. Mr. Lumer is the only civilian in history to receive both the
Order of Saint Barbara and the Order of Mercury. In June, 2007 Mr. Lumer’s office was
recognized by a consortium of federal agencies for obligating over $90M in contracts to Service
Disabled Veteran Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSB), more than any other DoD activity and
more than any cabinet level agency except the VA. Mr. Lumer’s Command received three other
small business awards from the Army on the same day.
In May, 2007 Mr. Lumer was recognized by the National Institute for the Blind (NIB) for his
innovative and outstanding contracting support to people with disabilities. In March, 2007 Mr.
Lumer made his third and final trip to Iraq to conduct a contracting assessment at the request of
the Director of Defense Procurement.
In 2004, Mr. Lumer was selected by the White House and the Army to represent the United
States of America and lead a procurement training team to visit coalition partners to thank them
for their support in helping rebuild Iraq. Mr. Lumer worked with a number of U.S. Ambassadors
and represented the people of the United States in 30 visits to 22 foreign countries. He was
particularly proud of the fact that no foreign government pulled their troops out of Iraq during
the three years he led this mission (with one exception).
Between November 2003 and July 2004, Mr. Lumer served as the Assistant Deputy Assistant
Secretary of the Army (Policy and Procurement)- Iraq. In this capacity, Mr. Lumer had overall
procurement policy responsibility for all Army contracts issued in support of Iraqi
reconstruction. At the request of the Secretary of Defense and the Acting Secretary of the Army,
Mr. Lumer personally conducted two on-site assessments of Army contracting in Iraq during
January and February, 2004. Mr. Lumer’s responsibilities included briefing members of
Congress and responding to foreign governments and media inquiries. On August 24, 2004 the
Deputy Secretary of Defense presented Mr. Lumer with a Leadership Award for his efforts in
supporting Iraqi Reconstruction.
Mr. Lumer was profiled in the July 2006 issue of Government Executive magazine, and was
subsequently identified as one of the most innovative acquisition professionals in the federal
government.
On Jan 28, 2004 the U.S. House of Representatives entered a tribute to Mr. Lumer into the
Congressional Record, documenting his exceptional contributions to the national defense of the
United States during his career.
On April 6, 2003 Mr. Lumer received NISH’s highest honor, the “Dick Alley” award from NISH
and the President’s Committee for Purchases from the Blind for his life-long commitment to
helping the disabled. April 3, 2003 was declared “Mark Lumer Day” by the Mayor of Huntsville,
Alabama in a proclamation recognizing Mr. Lumer’s long-term contributions to the local
community.
Along with a number of other Senior Executives, Mr. Lumer was recognized by President Bush
with a “Presidential Meritorious Rank Award” on October 16, 2001.
The Secretary of the Army presented Mr. Lumer with the “Decoration for Exceptional Civilian
Service”, the Army’s highest civilian award, on November 2, 2000. On April 12, 2000, Mr.
Lumer was the sole recipient of the Secretary of the Army’s FY 99 Award for Contracting
Professionalism (Civilian). Mr. Lumer’s office also received a second Secretary of the Army
“Excellence in Contracting” award for procurement support to the warfighters in Kosovo. In
July 1999, SMDC Contracting was also recognized by the Secretary of the Army with two
“Excellence in Contracting” awards. In June 1999, the Secretary of Defense awarded Mr.
Lumer’s staff a “Teamworking Excellence” award for their handling of the Small Business
Innovative Research (SBIR) Program.
In May 1999, SMDC Contracting received Vice-President Gore’s Hammer Award for efficiency
and streamlining of the procurement process.
In May 2000, Senator Kit Bond and the SBA recognized Mr. Lumer for his exceptional support
of HUBZONE companies. SMDC Contracting received the National Institute of Severely
Handicapped (NISH) “President’s Award” on April 17, 2000, for its innovative use of
contracting techniques that substantially increased job opportunities for handicapped individuals
at the High Energy Laser System Test Facility (HELSTF) at White Sands, NM.
In August 1998, SMDC became the first contracting command in the Department of Defense to
achieve full operational capability with the Standard Procurement System (SPS), DoD’s
paperless acquisition process. From 1995-2007, Mr. Lumer's contracting offices were rated as
the most efficient in the Army. The office was selected as the outstanding Resource
Management office (major command and above) for FY 95 by the Secretary of the Army. Until
March, 2010, SMDC had never lost a protest in its 54-year history, with almost 13 full years
under Mr. Lumer’s leadership.
Mr. Lumer previously worked in the Pentagon, where he was the Army Policy Representative on
the DAR Council for four years. As such, he established the Army’s position on revisions and
changes to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and the Defense FAR Supplement
(DFARS). Mr. Lumer had eight DAR subcommittees reporting to him. He also served as the
Acting Director, Army Procurement Policy in the office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army
(Research, Development, and Acquisition) immediately before joining SMDC. Mr. Lumer is one
of approximately 450 people worldwide who have actually written the FAR and DFARS.
Mr. Lumer's field experience includes two years as the Command Ombudsman at the U.S. Army
Communications-Electronics Command in New Jersey. He also served as the Chief of
Compliance there for 3 years, and as a contracting officer for several major weapons systems. In
his ten years as a contracting officer, he never lost a protest while obligating over $1 billion.
He is an internationally known expert and author in the field of government contracting and has
received many awards. He is listed in several editions of Who's Who, including the 1995 and
1996 editions of Who's Who in the World, and the Army has awarded him the Meritorious
Civilian Service medal twice, the Superior Civilian Service medal, and the Commander's Award
for Civilian Service twice.
He is the primary author of the "So You Think You Know” series of articles (about 30) for the
National Contract Management Association (NCMA), and was the principal author of NCMA's
Acquisition Reform I Seminar. Mr. Lumer taught the seminar at 50 locations throughout the
country. He has co-authored two other books on acquisition related matters.
In 1990 Federal Computer Week designated him as one of the "Top 100” government employees
in acquisition. In 1990 the Governor of Kentucky appointed him a Kentucky Colonel, in
recognition of his contributions to the country. The Signal Corps Regimental Association
chapter in Fort Monmouth awarded him the Order of Mercury (Bronze), the first civilian ever
recognized by that chapter. In 1996 Mr. Lumer was accepted into MENSA. Additionally, he
served the Huntsville, Alabama, community as a member of the U.S. Space and Rocket Center
Museum Committee.
Mr. Lumer holds BA and MBA degrees, and attended Albany Law School. He is a 1993
graduate of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, a Certified Associate Contracts Manager,
and was elected a Fellow by NCMA in 1984, at the time one of the youngest Fellows ever. He
was recognized by NCMA with the Outstanding Fellow award in July 1994, and the National
Achievement award in July 1995.