Shannon Connelly

Shannon Connelly serves as a primary procurement lead for the Billings Area Indian Health Service, overseeing the acquisition of essential health support services critical to delivering care to American Indian and Alaska Native communities across the Northern Plains. In this role, she manages a diverse portfolio of contracts aligned with the Indian Health Service’s mission to ensure equitable, culturally competent healthcare access. Her acquisitions focus on operational infrastructure, clinical support services, and community-based health systems, with an emphasis on compliance with federal procurement regulations and the unique statutory authorities under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act. She routinely handles solicitations requiring specialized knowledge of tribal health delivery models and federal set-aside programs. Connelly maintains a strong, ongoing partnership with Prairie Band Health Services Inc., a key contractor providing integrated health support services tailored to tribal populations. Her contracting patterns reflect a preference for long-term, performance-based vendor relationships that prioritize continuity of care and community trust. She collaborates closely with tribal health entities and culturally competent service providers, fostering partnerships that align with tribal sovereignty and self-governance principles. Her procurement strategy is deeply rooted in the Buy Indian Set-Aside program, which accounts for nearly half of her awards, reflecting a deliberate commitment to prioritizing Native-owned enterprises. She also actively utilizes Total Small Business Set-Asides and 8(a) competed contracts, demonstrating a robust socioeconomic contracting framework designed to empower underserved businesses while advancing tribal economic development. Connelly’s primary NAICS focus areas include Food Service Contractors, Industrial Launderers, and Computing Infrastructure Providers, reflecting her oversight of mission-critical non-clinical services that underpin health delivery. She specializes in procuring sanitation, waste management, data systems, and ancillary health support services essential to maintaining safe, functional, and technologically enabled tribal health facilities. Her expertise lies in integrating operational procurement with public health outcomes in remote, resource-constrained environments.