Ashley Blaess

Ashley Blaess serves as a key procurement professional within Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport, supporting the Department of the Navy’s mission to advance maritime warfare capabilities through the acquisition of cutting-edge sensor, navigation, and electronic warfare systems. Responsible for managing complex technical contracts, Blaess specializes in securing advanced computing hardware, precision test and measurement instruments, and integrated communication solutions critical to undersea, surface, and aerial domain operations. Their work directly enables the development and evaluation of next-generation naval systems, ensuring technological superiority across multi-domain warfare environments. Blaess maintains strong, ongoing relationships with leading defense and aerospace contractors including Science Applications International Corporation, Aerospace & Commercial Technologies, LLC, Astronics Test Systems Inc, Serco Inc, and Mikel Inc. These partnerships reflect a consistent focus on vendors with proven expertise in ruggedized electronics, signal processing, and systems integration for harsh maritime conditions. The contracting approach emphasizes long-term collaboration with firms capable of delivering high-reliability, mission-critical components under stringent naval specifications, often requiring rapid prototyping and iterative testing cycles. A pronounced commitment to small business participation is evident in Blaess’s contracting patterns, with 75% of awards structured as total small business set-asides under FAR 19.5. This reflects a strategic emphasis on cultivating innovation from small, agile vendors with niche technical capabilities in electronic instrumentation, computer peripheral manufacturing, and specialized engineering services. The consistent use of small business set-asides underscores a deliberate effort to broaden the supplier base and enhance resilience within the naval technology supply chain. Blaess’s procurement portfolio is concentrated in NAICS codes 334118 (computer peripheral equipment), 334515 (instrumentation for electrical signal testing), 511210 (software publishing), 334111 (electronic computer manufacturing), and 541330 (engineering services). These reflect a technical focus on embedded systems, test and calibration hardware, real-time data acquisition software, and custom engineering support essential to sonar, electronic warfare, and navigation system development. Their expertise lies in bridging advanced commercial technologies with rigorous naval operational requirements.