Jannelle Hernandez

Jannelle Hernandez serves as a key procurement professional at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, supporting the agency’s mission to advance human spaceflight systems and life sciences research. She manages acquisitions aligned with the Center’s strategic priorities in microgravity physiology, radiation biology, and spacecraft operational systems, ensuring that scientific and engineering requirements are met through compliant, mission-critical contracts. Her work centers on research and development contracts that enable the design, testing, and integration of next-generation technologies for crewed missions beyond low Earth orbit, including lunar and deep space exploration. She operates within the full spectrum of federal acquisition regulations, prioritizing technical rigor and mission readiness in all procurement actions. Her primary contractor relationships include Sierra Space Corp, Aspera Biomedicines, Inc., and Single Crystal Diamond Inc., reflecting a focus on innovative aerospace systems, life science instrumentation, and advanced materials. These partnerships are characterized by long-term collaboration on high-risk, high-reward R&D initiatives requiring specialized technical expertise and rapid prototyping capabilities. Hernandez fosters agile contracting approaches to accommodate evolving scientific objectives, often engaging contractors in early-stage concept development and iterative testing cycles. She demonstrates an unwavering commitment to small business participation, with 100% of her acquisitions structured as total small business set-asides under FAR 19.5. This reflects a deliberate strategy to cultivate a robust ecosystem of niche vendors capable of delivering cutting-edge solutions in space life sciences and engineering. Her contracting patterns consistently prioritize small businesses with proven capabilities in specialized technical domains, reinforcing NASA’s broader socioeconomic goals. Her procurement focus is exclusively on NAICS 541715—Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences—encompassing laboratory equipment, biomedical sensors, radiation shielding materials, and human performance monitoring systems. She specializes in procuring mission-enabling technologies that bridge fundamental research with operational spacecraft systems, ensuring that scientific discoveries are rapidly translated into crew safety and mission success.