Cara Poole

Cara Poole serves as a Contract Specialist responsible for managing the full lifecycle of procurement actions within the naval shipbuilding and repair sector. She ensures compliance with federal acquisition regulations while facilitating timely and cost-effective contract awards aligned with national defense priorities. Her work centers on complex, technical acquisitions involving vessel construction, maintenance, and modernization, requiring deep familiarity with defense-specific contracting frameworks such as FAR Part 12 and Part 37. She collaborates closely with technical evaluators, program managers, and legal advisors to structure solicitations that balance mission needs with fiscal accountability and regulatory rigor. Cara maintains professional relationships with a range of shipyard contractors, including prime builders and specialized subcontractors in marine engineering, propulsion systems, and naval architecture. Her contracting approach emphasizes performance-based outcomes and clear statement of work development, fostering transparent, long-term vendor partnerships grounded in accountability and quality assurance. She engages with industry through pre-solicitation conferences and market research initiatives to ensure solicitations reflect current technological capabilities and industry capacity. Cara’s procurement portfolio is entirely focused on open competition, with no set-asides applied to her awards. This reflects a strategic alignment with the Department of the Navy’s requirement for large-scale, specialized shipbuilding capacity that currently resides primarily among non-small business entities. While she does not routinely utilize 8(a), HUBZone, or SDVOSB set-asides, she remains committed to fair and open competition and ensures all solicitations are structured to maximize competition within the constraints of the technical domain. Her primary procurement focus is NAICS 336611—Ship Building and Repairing—where she specializes in acquiring complex naval vessels, dry dock services, and repair contracts requiring specialized metallurgical, electrical, and systems integration expertise. She regularly oversees procurements for surface combatants, support vessels, and associated subsystems, demonstrating strong technical fluency in naval engineering standards and defense acquisition policy.