Diane V. Sahakian was appointed Assistant Commissioner of the Office of Acquisition in July 2023.
As assistant commissioner, Sahakian oversees 350 acquisition and procurement professionals. Within CBP, acquisition is the discipline that works with agency operators to identify, design, assess, procure, and maintain capabilities needed for mission attainment.
Procurement is the technical purchase of goods and services to equip and support the CBP mission. The OA procurement team typically expects to administer contracts of more than $6 billion in support of CBP operations, following extensive purchasing regulations and safeguarding taxpayer interests.
Assistant Commissioner Sahakian began her career with the U.S. Customs Service in 1985, and in 2003 she helped launch CBP as part of the Department of Homeland Security. She was appointed Deputy Assistant Commissioner of OA in 2016 and was CBP’s Head of the Contracting Activity from 2016 to 2024.
She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Tufts University and Master certificates in both project management and commercial contracting from George Washington University. Assistant Commissioner Sahakian is also a graduate of the Federal Executive Institute’s Leadership for Democratic Society program and the Harvard Kennedy School’s Senior Managers in Government program.