Ellen McDonnell

Ellen McDonnell serves as a Small Business Specialist within the FA8102 Aflcmc Hbk, a critical unit of the Department of the Air Force responsible for sustaining and modernizing mission-critical air domain systems. In this role, she supports the acquisition lifecycle for advanced aeronautical navigation, detection, and command systems by ensuring small business engagement aligns with strategic modernization goals. She works closely with contracting teams to identify and integrate qualified small business vendors into complex technical procurements, facilitating compliance with federal socioeconomic mandates while maintaining operational readiness standards for air superiority capabilities. Her primary contractor relationship is with BETTER DIRECT, LLC, a vendor consistently engaged across multiple technical solicitations. McDonnell fosters collaborative, long-term partnerships with this firm, typically involving engineering support, systems integration, and field deployment services for avionics and air traffic infrastructure. Her procurement patterns reflect a preference for established technical partners with proven performance in defense-critical environments, emphasizing reliability and compliance over frequent vendor rotation. McDonnell’s set-aside preferences are uniquely focused: 100% of her acquisitions are conducted as non-set-aside, full and open competitions. This reflects a deliberate strategy to prioritize technical merit, mission urgency, and industrial base capacity over socioeconomic classifications, while still ensuring small businesses are competitively positioned within the broader pool. Her approach underscores a results-driven commitment to small business participation through inclusive solicitation design and early vendor outreach, rather than reserved set-asides. Her industry focus centers on NAICS 334511, encompassing the manufacturing of search, detection, navigation, and guidance systems—core to the agency’s mission. She routinely procures advanced avionics, radar subsystems, and integrated command and control hardware, with secondary emphasis on electrical installation (238210) and computer manufacturing (334111, 334112). Her technical expertise lies at the intersection of aerospace systems engineering and mission-critical IT infrastructure, ensuring procurement decisions align with Air Force modernization priorities.