Catherine Ashford

Catherine Ashford is a procurement professional with a specialized focus on aerospace and defense-related acquisitions, managing contracts for critical components and engineering services supporting national aerospace systems. Her work centers on the acquisition of aircraft parts, auxiliary equipment, and guided missile and space vehicle subsystems, ensuring alignment with technical specifications and mission-critical readiness requirements. She plays a pivotal role in executing the agency’s acquisition strategy by leveraging competitive contracting methods to secure high-integrity components from qualified industrial vendors, often navigating complex regulatory frameworks under FAR Part 15. Her contractor relationships are primarily with manufacturers and engineering firms specializing in aerospace systems integration, including firms certified under the Defense Industrial Base ecosystem. While no single vendor dominates her portfolio, she consistently engages with Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers possessing AS9100 certification and relevant ITAR compliance, fostering long-term partnerships built on technical reliability and quality assurance. Her contracting approach emphasizes performance-based outcomes and rigorous source selection criteria aligned with defense acquisition best practices. Ashford demonstrates a strong commitment to small business participation, with approximately 25% of her awards structured as total small business set-asides under FAR 19.5. While she does not routinely utilize 8(a), HUBZone, or SDVOSB set-asides, her consistent use of small business set-asides reflects a deliberate effort to expand the industrial base and enhance competition among qualified small manufacturers in the aerospace sector. Her procurement focus is overwhelmingly concentrated in NAICS 336413, reflecting deep expertise in the design, testing, and production of non-propulsion aircraft components and auxiliary systems. She also procures specialized parts under NAICS 336419 and engineering services under 541330, indicating proficiency in both hardware procurement and technical support services critical to advanced aerospace platforms. Her domain expertise spans avionics integration, structural components, and mission-critical subsystems for manned and unmanned systems.