Melissa Hearst

Melissa Hearst serves as a Contract Specialist responsible for managing the full lifecycle of procurement actions, from market research and solicitation development to contract award and administration. She plays a pivotal role in ensuring compliance with federal acquisition regulations and advancing mission-critical objectives through strategic sourcing. Her portfolio is exclusively focused on engineering services, where she executes complex, performance-based acquisitions requiring technical rigor and detailed statement of work development. She works closely with program managers and technical evaluators to align contracting strategies with operational needs, ensuring timely and compliant delivery of professional engineering support. Melissa cultivates collaborative relationships with a broad spectrum of engineering service providers, including large primes, mid-tier firms, and niche specialty consultants. While no single contractor dominates her award portfolio, she consistently engages vendors with demonstrated expertise in civil, mechanical, and systems engineering disciplines. Her approach emphasizes competitive bidding, clear performance metrics, and robust contract oversight to ensure deliverables meet stringent technical and schedule requirements. She prioritizes transparency and fairness in source selection, fostering an environment where vendors are evaluated on technical merit and past performance. Melissa’s contracting activity is entirely non-set-aside, with 100% of her awards issued under full and open competition. This reflects a deliberate strategy to maximize market participation and ensure the highest quality of engineering solutions through broad-based competition. While she does not routinely utilize socioeconomic programs such as 8(a), HUBZone, or SDVOSB set-asides, her procurement practices remain fully compliant with all applicable small business statutes and encourage voluntary small business subcontracting where technically appropriate. Her primary procurement focus is NAICS 541330 — Engineering Services — encompassing design, analysis, testing, and technical consulting across infrastructure, defense, and public works domains. She specializes in procuring services requiring professional engineering licensure, advanced modeling, and regulatory compliance expertise, ensuring that contracted work supports mission-critical infrastructure and technical systems.