William Barrington

Elaine A. Pappas serves as the primary point of contact for procurement activities at NASA’s Glenn Research Center, facilitating acquisitions critical to advancing aerospace propulsion, cryogenic fluid management, and lunar surface communication systems. She plays a pivotal role in translating mission-critical research needs into actionable contracting strategies, ensuring alignment with NASA’s goals for sustainable deep-space exploration. Her responsibilities encompass managing the full lifecycle of technical solicitations, from requirements definition to contract award and administration, with a focus on high-precision instrumentation, research services, and specialized facilities support. Pappas ensures compliance with federal acquisition regulations while fostering innovation through agile contracting approaches tailored to cutting-edge aerospace development. While specific contractor names are not available, Pappas maintains a broad network of vendors specializing in engineering R&D, industrial control systems, and space-environment-compatible infrastructure. Her procurement patterns reflect collaboration with both established aerospace primes and niche technology providers capable of delivering custom solutions for extreme-condition testing and mission-critical instrumentation. She actively engages with vendors possessing deep expertise in irradiation apparatus, process control systems, and ground-based simulation environments, ensuring technical rigor and mission readiness. Pappas demonstrates a strong commitment to socioeconomic contracting, with half of her acquisitions structured as total small business set-asides under FAR 19.5. She consistently prioritizes small business participation, balancing set-aside opportunities with open competitions to maintain competitive rigor. Her contracting patterns reflect a deliberate strategy to expand the supplier base among small, innovative firms while adhering to federal socioeconomic goals. Her procurement focus centers on NAICS 541715 for physical and engineering R&D, 334513 and 334517 for industrial measurement and irradiation equipment, 561210 for facilities support services, and 531190 for specialized real estate leasing. These categories underscore her technical domain expertise in aerospace testing infrastructure, precision instrumentation, and mission-enabling research environments essential to NASA’s lunar and deep-space objectives.