Christie L Heard-Rawlings

Christie L. Heard-Rawlings serves as a key procurement professional within the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), supporting the acquisition and sustainment of critical naval aviation systems for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. She manages complex contracts spanning aircraft modernization, avionics integration, and mission-critical support services, ensuring alignment with NAVAIR’s lifecycle management objectives. Her work directly enables the fielding and sustainment of carrier-based and expeditionary aircraft platforms, with a focus on maintaining air superiority through timely and technically rigorous procurement actions. She routinely handles sole-source and competitive acquisitions under the Department of the Navy’s defense acquisition framework, emphasizing technical compliance, risk mitigation, and operational readiness. Heard-Rawlings maintains consistent contracting relationships with leading defense prime contractors including Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, Lockheed Martin Corporation, and General Atomics, partnering with organizations that deliver advanced aerospace systems, guided missile components, and integrated logistics support. Her procurement approach reflects a preference for established industry leaders with proven capability in high-complexity, high-reliability environments, often involving classified or ITAR-regulated technologies. These partnerships are typically structured through performance-based contracts, engineering services agreements, and long-term sustainment task orders that ensure continuity of support for mission-critical platforms. Her contracting activity shows no reliance on socioeconomic set-asides, with 100% of awards issued under full and open competition. This reflects a strategic prioritization of technical capability and mission urgency over socioeconomic preferences, consistent with NAVAIR’s focus on rapid fielding of advanced aviation systems. While small business participation is not formally incentivized in her portfolio, the nature of her acquisitions often involves subcontracting to specialized suppliers embedded within prime contractor teams. Her primary procurement focus lies in NAICS 541330 (Engineering Services), 336419 (Guided Missile and Space Vehicle Parts), and 336413 (Aircraft Parts and Auxiliary Equipment), underscoring deep expertise in systems engineering, avionics integration, and propulsion subsystems. She routinely procures technical services for flight control systems, radar integration, and maintenance support infrastructure, demonstrating specialized knowledge in naval aviation technology domains.