Crystal D. Life

Crystal D. Life serves as Supervisory Contract Specialist at the Southeast Regional Maintenance Center (N40027), where she leads the planning, solicitation, and award of complex procurement actions critical to sustaining the U.S. Navy’s surface fleet. In this role, she oversees the full lifecycle of contracts for ship maintenance, repair, and modernization, ensuring compliance with federal acquisition regulations and mission-driven delivery of naval vessel readiness. Her portfolio primarily encompasses major dry-docking events, structural overhauls, and hull and machinery system upgrades under NAICS 336611, requiring deep technical familiarity with naval engineering standards and shipyard operational requirements. She collaborates closely with naval engineers, logistics teams, and shipyard personnel to align acquisition strategy with operational timelines and readiness goals. Crystal works with a broad range of qualified shipbuilding and repair contractors, including large-tier defense industrial base firms and specialized maritime maintenance providers with proven experience in naval vessel refit programs. Her contracting approach emphasizes performance-based outcomes, rigorous source selection, and contract administration grounded in technical compliance and quality assurance protocols. While no single contractor dominates her portfolio, she consistently engages vendors with demonstrated capability in dry-dock operations, welding and structural repair, propulsion system upgrades, and naval-specific electrical and mechanical integration. Crystal’s procurement strategy reflects a strong preference for full and open competition, with 100% of her acquisitions conducted without set-asides. This approach underscores her focus on maximizing technical capability and schedule certainty over socioeconomic classifications, aligning with the Navy’s priority of maintaining combat-effective vessels through the most qualified industry partners. While small business participation is not formally targeted, she remains open to qualified small businesses that meet stringent technical and capacity requirements. Her industry expertise is exclusively centered on NAICS 336611, with deep specialization in naval ship repair and maintenance. She procures services including dry-docking, hull rehabilitation, machinery overhauls, and modernization of combat systems infrastructure, requiring intimate knowledge of naval specifications, naval shipyard infrastructure, and Department of Defense technical standards for vessel sustainment.