Michelle Shanahan

Michelle Shanahan serves as a Small Business Specialist within the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Acquisition, where she plays a pivotal role in advancing socioeconomic contracting goals aligned with NHTSA’s mission to enhance road safety through evidence-based procurement. She advises acquisition teams on small business outreach, ensures compliance with federal socioeconomic requirements, and facilitates meaningful participation by disadvantaged and small businesses in the agency’s technical and professional services acquisitions. Her work directly supports the development of regulatory frameworks, safety research, and technology evaluation programs critical to reducing traffic-related fatalities and injuries. Shanahan maintains consistent working relationships with a select group of prime contractors, including AMD International Technologies LLC, Aerospace & Commercial Technologies, LLC, and the National Association of ESEA State Program Administrators. These partnerships reflect a focus on high-value professional services such as management consulting, testing and evaluation, and social science research. Her contracting patterns emphasize long-term, performance-based engagements with firms capable of delivering complex analytical and technical support to inform NHTSA’s regulatory and policy initiatives. While the majority of NHTSA’s acquisitions under her purview are non-set-aside (91.2%), Shanahan actively promotes 8(a) competed opportunities, which account for nearly 6% of awards, demonstrating a targeted commitment to expanding access for small disadvantaged businesses. She ensures that socioeconomic programs are strategically integrated into procurement planning without compromising technical rigor or mission outcomes. Her procurement focus centers on NAICS 541611 (administrative management consulting), 541380 (testing laboratories), and 541720 (social science research), reflecting NHTSA’s emphasis on behavioral analysis, safety testing, and policy evaluation. She routinely supports contracts for engineering research, data analytics, and public safety campaign development, requiring deep domain expertise in transportation safety systems and regulatory compliance frameworks.