Kathleen L Knepp

Kathleen L. Knepp serves as a Contract Specialist within the Defense Information Systems Agency’s DISA/DITCO Europe office, where she plays a pivotal role in procuring mission-critical telecommunications and systems design services to sustain global defense communications infrastructure. Her responsibilities include managing the full lifecycle of complex acquisitions for secure, high-capacity data transport solutions across European and Southwest Asian theaters, ensuring compliance with DoD cybersecurity standards and operational resilience requirements. She specializes in performance-based contracting for commercial telecommunications services, network engineering, and encrypted data transport systems that support tactical and strategic military operations. Knepp maintains enduring relationships with a select group of prime contractors including L1 Enterprises Incorporated, British Telecommunications Public Limited Company, Vodafone Enterprise Germany GmbH, Liberty Communications, Inc., and QualityNet General Trading and Contracting Company WLL. These partnerships are characterized by long-term, performance-driven engagements focused on delivering scalable, low-latency, and encrypted communications capabilities. Her contracting approach emphasizes vendor reliability, technical innovation, and adherence to NATO interoperability standards, fostering collaborative relationships with vendors capable of rapid deployment in austere environments. Knepp’s procurement portfolio reflects a strict focus on full and open competition, with no set-asides utilized across her awarded contracts. This reflects a mission-driven prioritization of technical capability and operational readiness over socioeconomic preferences, ensuring that the most capable and proven providers are selected to meet urgent defense communication needs. Her primary procurement focus is on NAICS 541512 (Computer Systems Design Services), encompassing the design, integration, and sustainment of secure, high-performance communications architectures. She routinely procures services related to encrypted network infrastructure, SD-WAN implementations, fiber-optic transport systems, and cybersecurity-hardened data transport solutions, demonstrating deep expertise in defense-grade telecommunications engineering and commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) integration for military applications.