Ann Smetana

Ann Smetana serves as a Contracting Officer within the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), responsible for managing the full lifecycle acquisition of critical naval aviation systems. She oversees the procurement of aircraft components, avionics, and support equipment essential to maintaining air superiority for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Her portfolio includes complex contracts for the development, testing, and sustainment of carrier-based and expeditionary aircraft systems, with a focus on ensuring technical compliance, cost efficiency, and operational readiness. Smetana plays a pivotal role in executing NAVAIR’s strategic modernization goals by aligning acquisition strategies with evolving warfighting requirements and defense industrial base capabilities. She maintains long-standing, mission-critical relationships with leading defense aerospace prime contractors, including Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, Lockheed Martin Corporation, and General Atomics. These partnerships center on the delivery of high-integrity systems such as rotary-wing platforms, unmanned aerial systems, and integrated weapons suites. Smetana consistently engages these vendors through performance-based contracting methods, emphasizing technical innovation, supply chain resilience, and lifecycle support. Her approach reflects a preference for established industry partners with proven track records in delivering complex, mission-essential capabilities under stringent military specifications. Smetana’s contracting activity is entirely non-set-aside, with 100% of her awards issued under full and open competition. This reflects a deliberate strategy to prioritize technical capability, operational urgency, and industrial base readiness over socioeconomic set-asides. While she does not routinely utilize 8(a), HUBZone, or SDVOSB programs, her portfolio supports broad industry participation through transparent, merit-based procurement practices that ensure access for qualified large and mid-tier suppliers. Her primary procurement focus lies in NAICS 336413 (Other Aircraft Parts and Auxiliary Equipment Manufacturing) and NAICS 336411 (Aircraft Manufacturing), encompassing avionics integration, propulsion subsystems, flight control systems, and mission-specific payloads. Smetana’s expertise spans the technical domains of naval aviation systems engineering, military certification standards, and defense logistics sustainment, ensuring that all acquisitions meet rigorous airworthiness and interoperability requirements.