Melissa Small

Melissa Small serves as a Contract Specialist at the Missile Defense Agency (HQ0276), where she plays a critical role in executing complex acquisition strategies to support the development and fielding of integrated missile defense systems. She manages the full lifecycle of procurements for research, development, and systems integration contracts, ensuring alignment with national security objectives and Department of Defense acquisition regulations. Her work directly enables the advancement of kinetic and non-kinetic countermeasures, including interceptor systems, sensor networks, and command-and-control architectures essential for defending against ballistic and hypersonic threats. Melissa collaborates with a diverse array of defense contractors and research institutions specializing in advanced engineering and systems analysis. While no single contractor dominates her portfolio, she routinely engages with prime contractors possessing deep expertise in aerospace systems, radar technology, and real-time data fusion. Her contracting approach emphasizes performance-based outcomes, technical risk mitigation, and rigorous compliance with defense-specific acquisition standards such as DoD 5000.02 and the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement. Melissa’s procurement patterns reflect a strong preference for open, unrestricted competition, with 100% of her acquisitions issued under the “No Set-Aside” category. She does not routinely utilize socioeconomic set-asides such as 8(a), HUBZone, or SDVOSB programs, instead prioritizing technical capability and mission-critical performance across all vendor tiers. Her approach underscores the high-stakes, time-sensitive nature of missile defense programs, where specialized expertise often supersedes socioeconomic preferences. Her primary procurement focus is on NAICS 541715—Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences—reflecting her deep engagement with cutting-edge defense R&D. She procures services related to systems engineering, simulation and modeling, hypersonics research, and missile intercept technology development, working closely with firms possessing advanced capabilities in physics-based modeling, signal processing, and autonomous guidance systems.