Michele W. Jennings

Michele W. Jennings serves as a Contracting Officer for the Federal Railroad Administration, where she plays a pivotal role in advancing the agency’s mission to modernize rail safety and operational resilience through strategic acquisitions. She manages the full lifecycle of procurements for technical services critical to infrastructure inspection, human factors analysis, and predictive modeling systems. Her portfolio centers on engineering and information technology solutions that enhance rail system performance, with a strong emphasis on data-driven decision-making tools and cybersecurity-compliant systems. Jennings ensures compliance with federal acquisition regulations while aligning contract awards with the FRA’s long-term modernization goals. Her contractor relationships are primarily with small businesses certified under the 8(a) Business Development Program, reflecting a deliberate and consistent preference for socioeconomically disadvantaged firms. She fosters collaborative partnerships with vendors possessing deep expertise in rail-specific systems integration, software development for transportation analytics, and facility management services tailored to federal rail operations. Jennings actively engages with small business mentors and industry outreach programs to build capacity among eligible contractors and ensure competitive, high-quality proposals. Jennings demonstrates an unwavering commitment to small business participation, with 100% of her acquisitions structured as 8(a) competed contracts. This pattern underscores her dedication to equitable opportunity and workforce development within the transportation technology sector. She prioritizes firms with proven experience in federal compliance, performance-based service delivery, and secure data environments, ensuring that socioeconomic goals are met without compromising technical rigor or mission outcomes. Her primary procurement focus is on NAICS 541513 (Computer Facilities Management Services), encompassing managed IT infrastructure, cloud-based data hosting, and systems support for rail safety analytics platforms. She routinely acquires services related to real-time monitoring systems, predictive maintenance software, and secure data center operations—all essential to sustaining the FRA’s technical oversight and innovation initiatives. Jennings brings specialized expertise in procuring mission-critical IT services that directly enable the agency’s engineering and operational resilience objectives.