Karen J. Artis

Karen J. Artis serves as a Contract Specialist at the Naval Oceanographic Office (N62306), where she plays a pivotal role in executing complex acquisitions that support the agency’s mission to deliver critical oceanographic and geospatial intelligence for naval operations. She manages the full lifecycle of contracts for advanced sensing systems, environmental modeling tools, and mission-critical instrumentation, ensuring alignment with Department of Defense procurement standards and operational requirements. Her work directly enables safe navigation, anti-submarine warfare, and undersea domain awareness by securing technically sophisticated solutions from industry partners. While specific contractor names are not publicly enumerated, Artis routinely engages with manufacturers of specialized nautical and aeronautical systems, engineering service providers, and satellite communications firms. Her procurement patterns reflect a preference for established vendors with proven capabilities in high-reliability instrumentation and real-time environmental data systems. She fosters collaborative relationships with vendors capable of delivering ruggedized, field-deployable technologies that meet rigorous military specifications. Artis’s contracting portfolio is overwhelmingly dominated by open, non-set-aside acquisitions at 88.7%, reflecting the technical specificity and scale of requirements often beyond small business capacity. However, she consistently supports small business participation through Total Small Business Set-Asides (7.0%) and 8(a) competed awards (2.8%), with modest engagement in HUBZone set-asides (1.4%), demonstrating balanced adherence to socioeconomic goals without compromising mission readiness. Her primary NAICS focus lies in the manufacturing of search, detection, and navigation systems (334511, 27.5%) and other measuring and controlling devices (334519, 21.7%), alongside significant procurement in satellite telecommunications (517410) and engineering services (541330). She specializes in acquiring advanced sensors, underwater acoustic systems, geospatial data platforms, and real-time environmental modeling software critical to naval oceanographic operations.