Ms. Arlene L. Welch

Ms. Arlene L. Welch serves as a Mission Partner within the Telecommunications Division (HC1013) of the Defense Information Systems Agency, where she plays a pivotal role in advancing the Department of Defense’s global communications infrastructure. Her responsibilities include managing the acquisition lifecycle for mission-critical telecommunications and network modernization initiatives, ensuring the deployment of secure, high-capacity, and resilient connectivity solutions across military and federal operations. She specializes in procuring complex IT services that support virtual private networks, legacy system upgrades, and interoperable communication architectures, aligning acquisitions with DISA’s strategic imperatives for cyber resilience and operational readiness. Ms. Welch maintains consistent, long-term relationships with key contractors including AT&T Technical Services Company, Inc., Aerospace & Commercial Technologies, LLC, Liberty Communications, Inc., AOC Connect LLC, and Norfolk Fiber, LLC. These partnerships are centered on delivering advanced telecom engineering, fiber optic deployment, network security integration, and managed services essential to sustaining DoD’s global communications backbone. Her procurement approach emphasizes performance-based contracting, technical rigor, and vendor accountability, fostering collaborative engagements with vendors capable of meeting stringent security and scalability requirements. Ms. Welch’s contracting portfolio reflects a 100% non-set-aside orientation, indicating a strategic focus on open competition to ensure access to the broadest range of technical capabilities. While small business participation is not formally prioritized through socioeconomic set-asides, her acquisitions remain open to all qualified vendors, with selection driven by technical merit, past performance, and compliance with DoD cybersecurity standards. Her primary procurement focus is on NAICS 541519 (Other Computer Related Services), encompassing managed network services, cybersecurity-enabled telecom solutions, cloud-enabled communications infrastructure, and systems integration for defense-grade networks. She specializes in procuring services that enable secure, scalable, and interoperable communications architectures, demonstrating deep expertise in the technical domains of DoD telecommunications modernization and enterprise network resilience.