Kelsey Buell

Kelsey Buell serves as a Contract Specialist at the Naval Air Warfare Center Air Division, where she plays a pivotal role in managing complex acquisitions that support the development, testing, and sustainment of advanced naval aviation systems. Her responsibilities include soliciting, evaluating, and awarding contracts for mission-critical avionics, electronic warfare subsystems, and sensor integration technologies. She works closely with technical stakeholders to align procurement strategies with the agency’s priorities in modernizing airborne platforms and sustaining legacy systems, ensuring compliance with federal acquisition regulations and defense acquisition benchmarks. Buell maintains strong, ongoing relationships with key industry partners including SABRE SYSTEMS, LLC, The Boeing Company, SAIC, Systems Planning and Analysis, Inc., and ONTIC Engineering & Manufacturing, Inc. These partnerships reflect a consistent focus on high-technology engineering and systems integration firms capable of delivering specialized aerospace and defense solutions. Her contracting approach emphasizes long-term collaboration with vendors possessing deep domain expertise in airborne systems, ensuring technical rigor and program continuity across multi-year acquisition cycles. While the majority of her acquisitions—85.7%—are conducted as full and open competitions, she actively supports small business participation through Total Small Business Set-Asides, reflecting a measured but intentional commitment to socioeconomic contracting goals. Her pattern of awarding under FAR 19.5 demonstrates a strategic balance between mission-critical capability and broad vendor engagement, particularly with firms offering specialized engineering and manufacturing services. Her procurement focus is concentrated in NAICS 541330 (Engineering Services) and 334515 (Instrument Manufacturing for Measuring and Testing Electricity and Electrical Signals), underscoring her technical expertise in avionics testing, signal processing, and mission systems integration. She regularly procures services related to systems design, electronic test equipment, and specialized maintenance support, aligning acquisitions with the Navy’s evolving needs in air dominance and electronic combat readiness.