Kate McKeown

Kate McKeown serves as a Contract Specialist at the Naval Air Warfare Center Air Division (N00421), where she plays a pivotal role in executing complex acquisitions for advanced naval aviation systems. She manages the full lifecycle of contracts supporting the development, testing, and sustainment of mission-critical avionics, electronic warfare suites, communications systems, and aircraft subsystems essential to maintaining air superiority. Her portfolio centers on technical procurement activities aligned with modernization initiatives and legacy platform sustainment, ensuring operational readiness across the fleet. McKeown works closely with engineering and program management teams to translate technical requirements into compliant, performance-based solicitations under FAR and DFARS frameworks. She maintains established working relationships with leading defense contractors including SABRE SYSTEMS, LLC, THE BOEING COMPANY, SCIENCE APPLICATIONS INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION, SYSTEMS PLANNING AND ANALYSIS, INC., and ONTIC ENGINEERING & MANUFACTURING, INC. These partnerships reflect a balance between large prime contractors delivering integrated systems and specialized vendors providing niche engineering, testing, and manufacturing support. McKeown fosters collaborative, performance-driven vendor relationships grounded in technical rigor and contract compliance, ensuring timely delivery of high-integrity aviation capabilities. McKeown’s procurement strategy reflects a balanced commitment to socioeconomic goals, with approximately half of her acquisitions structured as Total Small Business Set-Asides under FAR 19.5. She consistently prioritizes small business participation across multiple categories, including Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses and Women-Owned Small Businesses, while maintaining flexibility for full and open competition where required by technical complexity or urgency. Her primary focus lies in NAICS 488190 — Other Support Activities for Air Transportation — encompassing technical support services for aircraft systems integration, maintenance, test and evaluation, and logistics sustainment. She specializes in procuring engineering services, software development, avionics upgrades, and mission systems testing, demonstrating deep domain expertise in naval airborne platforms and their supporting infrastructure.