Kathryn Huffer, Contract Specialist

Kathryn Huffer serves as an Acquisition Specialist within DLA Aviation, where she plays a critical role in securing high-reliability aircraft components and auxiliary systems essential to U.S. military aviation readiness. Her procurement activities center on sustaining mission-critical aviation assets by acquiring parts and subsystems that support aircraft, engines, and flight-critical systems. She manages the full lifecycle of contract actions—from requirements validation and market research to solicitation and award—ensuring compliance with Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) and Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) standards. Her work directly enables the operational availability of military aircraft by mitigating supply chain disruptions and managing technical obsolescence risks. Huffer collaborates with a diverse base of industrial partners, primarily tier-one and tier-two manufacturers specializing in aerospace components, including those producing flight control systems, hydraulic actuators, and avionics interfaces. She cultivates long-term vendor relationships grounded in technical capability, quality assurance, and on-time delivery performance, prioritizing suppliers with AS9100 certification and robust quality management systems. Her contracting approach emphasizes competitive sourcing while maintaining flexibility to address urgent operational needs through sole-source or limited competition mechanisms when justified under FAR 6.302. Her procurement strategy reflects a strong commitment to small business participation, with over 22% of her awards structured as total small business set-asides under FAR 19.5 and nearly 3% designated for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSBs). While the majority of her actions remain open to all competitors, she actively promotes small business engagement through mentor-protégé programs and targeted market outreach. Kathryn’s technical focus is concentrated in NAICS 336413, where she procures specialized aircraft parts and auxiliary equipment, including landing gear components, electrical harnesses, and environmental control system parts. Her domain expertise spans aerospace manufacturing standards, configuration control, and logistics sustainment, ensuring that all acquisitions meet stringent military performance and reliability requirements.