COMMAND/ORGANIZATION: U.S. Army Contracting Command – Redstone Arsenal
TITLE: Contract specialist
YEARS OF SERVICE IN WORKFORCE: 3 (AAW), 5 (other government agencies)
YEARS OF MILITARY SERVICE: 8
DAWIA CERTIFICATIONS: Contracting Professional
EDUCATION: MBA, Saint Leo University; Graduate Certificate, agile contracting, Villanova University; Graduate Certificate, contract law, Harvard University; B.A. in business administration, Saint Leo University; Associate in logistics, Purdue Global; Currently pursuing Juris Doctorate from Purdue Global Law School (projected graduation in 2028)

Amanda Bursaw

by Cheryl Marino

Research and development (R&D) contract roles often involve navigating uncharted territories where standard solutions may not apply. Intuition, along with experience—and a deep understanding of emerging technologies and mission needs—helps identify promising opportunities, assess risks and make swift decisions when data is incomplete or ambiguous.

With 17 years of government experience in the military and as a civilian, Amanda Bursaw has learned that by trusting her instincts, she can better anticipate challenges, foster creativity and structure agreements that provide the flexibility and resources necessary for groundbreaking innovations to thrive. This ultimately accelerates solutions that benefit warfighters and national security.

“The most important lesson I have learned over my career is to trust yourself and your instinct and be able to support your position with facts; know your resources to support your ideas and approach to every problem,” said Bursaw, who has been with the Army Acquisition Workforce (AAW) as a contract specialist at Army Contracting Command – Redstone Arsenal since 2021.

“I use this in my work every day in contracting for research and development. You must be able to support why you want to choose a particular contract vehicle; you must understand the requirement, have a clear vision and research utilizing policy and regulations to support the direction of the procurement approach.”

Bursaw joined the AAW with 14 years of prior experience supporting government agencies including the U.S. Air Force as a civilian contract specialist for 1.5 years, and 8 years active duty in medical logistics, the Department of Veterans Affairs for 2.5 years as a contracting officer and the Department of Defense Education Activity for 2 years as the sole contract specialist for Europe West.

She took the opportunity to work at her current Army field office because of the unique environment, the challenge of learning new approaches to procurement under R&D and the opportunity to work special programs unique to Army aviation. “I wanted to have a direct impact on the people doing the true hard work,” said Bursaw.

As a contract specialist for special programs, the most appealing aspect of the job, she said, is the ability to work in an environment hand-in-hand with all team members. “Working directly with finance, the program office, legal and policy is a wonderful opportunity to see all the critical elements required to make a legally sufficient, strong performing contract.”

“This special role continues to be a great opportunity to grow my contracting knowledge and challenge myself to adjust to the changing needs of Army aviation,” she said of the opportunity to take the lead in offering contracting advice and challenging the status quo, as well as recommending new approaches to her peers within the Army acquisition team. Since some projects within Army aviation are experimental by design, and exclusive to her office, Bursaw’s input as a specialist helps shape the development of that outcome.

Recently, she procured the research for and development of a hydrogen fuel-cell Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) prototype in support of the Army’s climate strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2032, using Other Transactions Authority. This UAS platform demonstrates improved  performance over the traditional platform with no carbon emissions and may also provide for more sophisticated mission equipment that can take advantage of the increase in electrical power output.

Bursaw said she always has the support of knowledgeable SMEs [subject matter experts] “within arm’s reach,” along with superior legal support and a collaborative team that is selfless in what they do.

“I work in an office where accolades are not a driving force. When I come into the office, we know each of us had a hand in the unique footprint and that is all we need for this is a brotherhood/sisterhood of Army aviation innovation. That in itself is job satisfaction.”

The most important point in her Army career, she said, was being introduced to programs for which she had no previous exposure, contract types she had only read about and collaboration with various internal and external stakeholders. “This experience has really forced me to step into a more agile mindset to contracting solutions,” said Bursaw. There are no specific programs that she feels she missed out on, but she is always interested in any future program or opportunity that would develop her contracting career and how she supports the mission, the warfighters and the nation.

Most recently, she is working to expand her knowledge on AI. “It is coming, and I am doing everything I can to be prepared for the day,” she said. “I absolutely recommend learning about AI and how we can utilize it as a tool in our contracting tool belts to improve efficiency and decrease bureaucracy in the contracting process.”

Bursaw, an advocate for continuous learning beyond the mandatory requirements, said Defense Acquisition University traditional courses for R&D like Udemy for AI innovation has been a beneficial tool, as well as courses she’s taken at Purdue Global Law School, where she is pursuing a Juris Doctorate degree to advance her contracting knowledge.

“I am constantly trying to learn and adapt to the changing needs of contracting,” Bursaw said. But her best advice for junior acquisition personnel is that “you are not competing with others.” Learning is a personal journey and you should focus on absorbing as much knowledge as possible.

Outside of work, Bursaw is a wife, mom to three children (ages 14, 10 and 7), a coach, godmother, confidant, advisor and friend. “All of these things allow me to be an active listener, timely in every aspect of my job, creative in solving problems or anticipating problems, as well being a good team member,” she said. “In all my roles I have learned to take a holistic approach, which has allowed me to take an active role in the day-to-day aspects of acquisition processes and not just the contract actions and contract oversight.”

“Take all knowledge offered and add it to your toolbelt. This will make you the best version of yourself and allow you to provide superior contracting support now and long into your contracting career. Take all opportunities to challenge yourself to learn new and innovative ways of getting the job done,” she said. “There are many ways to get to the goals; if you see another way, speak up and challenge the way it has always been done.”