Kelli Boles

Kelli Boles serves as a primary procurement lead within the Defense Logistics Agency’s Aerospace Energy office (SPE601), responsible for securing critical energy and gas supply chains essential to DoD operational readiness. She manages complex acquisitions of high-purity industrial gases—including aviator breathing oxygen, liquid oxygen, and liquid nitrogen—as well as rocket-grade propellants and associated storage, handling, and logistics infrastructure. Her work directly supports the sustainment of aerospace and defense systems, ensuring mission-critical fuel and life-support supplies remain uninterrupted across global operations. Her acquisitions are highly technical, often requiring compliance with military specifications and hazardous materials handling standards. Boles maintains long-standing relationships with a small group of specialized suppliers, most notably OKANO, K.K., TOHSAN CO., LTD., and AIRGAS USA, LLC, which consistently deliver high-purity gas products and cryogenic logistics services under strict quality assurance protocols. These partnerships are built on technical reliability, regulatory compliance, and just-in-time delivery capabilities essential for aerospace and defense applications. Her contracting approach prioritizes performance history and certified manufacturing standards over broad competition, reflecting the niche, high-risk nature of the procurements. Her procurement portfolio is overwhelmingly dominated by non-set-aside acquisitions, with 92.3% of awards issued under full and open competition, indicating a focus on technical capability over socioeconomic preferences. Only 7.7% of contracts are awarded as total small business set-asides, suggesting a pragmatic alignment with mission needs rather than socioeconomic targets. Her primary procurement focus lies in NAICS 325120 (Industrial Gas Manufacturing), reflecting deep expertise in cryogenic and gas purification systems. She also oversees related services under NAICS 541380 (Testing Laboratories) and 811310 (Industrial Equipment Repair), ensuring gas purity validation and maintenance of specialized infrastructure. Her domain expertise centers on aerospace-grade gas systems, hazardous material logistics, and defense-grade quality control standards.