Bernardino Cortez

Bernardino Cortez serves as a Purchasing Agent at the Naval Air Warfare Center Air Division (N00421), where he plays a critical role in acquiring advanced avionics, communications, and mission-critical subsystems essential to naval air superiority. His responsibilities encompass the full lifecycle procurement of technical systems—including sensor suites, electronic warfare components, and laboratory-grade instrumentation—aligned with the agency’s mission to modernize and sustain next-generation naval aviation platforms. Cortez manages complex solicitations under FAR and DFARS frameworks, ensuring compliance with technical specifications and delivery timelines for high-priority defense programs. He maintains consistent procurement relationships with leading defense and aerospace contractors including SABRE SYSTEMS, LLC, THE BOEING COMPANY, SCIENCE APPLICATIONS INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION, SYSTEMS PLANNING AND ANALYSIS, INC., and ONTIC ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING, INC. These partnerships reflect a focus on integrated systems engineering, mission software development, and precision manufacturing of airborne instrumentation. Cortez collaborates closely with these vendors to ensure technical alignment, risk mitigation, and seamless integration of capabilities into fleet platforms. Cortez demonstrates a strong commitment to socioeconomic contracting, with 71.2% of his acquisitions structured as Total Small Business Set-Asides under FAR 19.5. His procurement patterns prioritize small business participation across multiple categories, consistently channeling opportunities to qualified small disadvantaged, woman-owned, and service-disabled veteran-owned firms. This reflects a deliberate strategy to foster innovation and resilience within the defense industrial base. His primary NAICS focus areas include 511210 (Software Publishers), 334220 (Radio and Wireless Communications Equipment Manufacturing), and 334513/334515 (Industrial and Electrical Measurement Instrument Manufacturing). He specializes in procuring advanced signal processing hardware, embedded avionics, test and calibration systems, and analytical instrumentation critical to airborne system development and sustainment, demonstrating deep technical fluency in electronic warfare and mission systems procurement.