Rebecca Y. Jessen

Rebecca Y. Jessen serves as a key procurement professional within the W4MM USA Joint Munitions Command, supporting the Department of Defense’s mission to ensure operational readiness through the lifecycle management of conventional ammunition and explosives. She manages acquisition activities spanning the production, storage, distribution, and demilitarization of munitions systems, with a focus on sustaining combat-effective supplies for land, air, and naval forces. Her work directly enables modernization initiatives and supply chain resilience by securing critical materials and specialized manufacturing capabilities essential to national defense. Jessen collaborates with a diverse range of industrial contractors specializing in advanced materials and defense-related manufacturing. While specific vendor names are not publicly disclosed, her contracting patterns indicate consistent engagement with firms capable of producing high-precision polymers, synthetic pigments, and irradiation-applicable components. Her procurement approach emphasizes technical compliance, safety standards, and quality assurance protocols aligned with military specifications, fostering long-term partnerships with vendors who meet stringent DoD certification requirements. Her contracting portfolio reflects a strong commitment to small business participation, with 35.7% of acquisitions set aside for total small business concerns under FAR 19.5. This demonstrates a deliberate strategy to cultivate capacity among small manufacturers capable of supporting niche defense supply chains, though no specific socioeconomic set-asides such as 8(a), HUBZone, or SDVOSB are predominant in her portfolio. Jessen’s primary industry focus lies in materials manufacturing, particularly in NAICS 326140 (polystyrene foam), 325130 (synthetic dyes and pigments), and 325211 (plastics resins), alongside specialized procurement in 334517 (irradiation apparatus) and 331315 (aluminum sheet and foil). These categories reflect her technical expertise in procuring functional materials for munitions casings, explosive packaging, radiation-shielded components, and corrosion-resistant subsystems critical to weapon system integrity and safe handling.