LaTeasha E. Cunningham

LaTeasha E. Cunningham serves as a Contract Specialist at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, supporting the Department of the Navy’s mission to sustain operational medical readiness through the strategic procurement of high-acuity clinical equipment. She manages the full lifecycle of acquisitions for precision surgical instruments, electromedical devices, diagnostic supplies, and specialized laboratory equipment, ensuring compliance with federal acquisition regulations and military healthcare standards. Her work directly enables the delivery of advanced clinical care to active-duty personnel, veterans, and their families, with a focus on mission-critical medical technology that supports trauma care, surgical readiness, and diagnostic accuracy. Cunningham collaborates with a diverse range of vendors specializing in medical device manufacturing and clinical supply chains. While no single contractor dominates her portfolio, she consistently engages with firms possessing FDA-regulated manufacturing capabilities, ISO 13485 certification, and defense supply chain experience. Her contracting approach emphasizes technical evaluation, performance-based specifications, and vendor responsiveness to urgent clinical requirements, fostering partnerships with both established medical manufacturers and agile small businesses capable of rapid prototyping and delivery. She exhibits a strong preference for open competition, with 71.4% of her acquisitions conducted without set-asides, reflecting the specialized nature of the equipment procured. However, she actively supports small business participation, allocating 28.6% of her contracts as total small business set-asides under FAR 19.5, prioritizing firms with proven expertise in medical device production and clinical supply logistics. Her primary NAICS focus is on surgical and medical instrument manufacturing (339112), followed by surgical appliance and supplies manufacturing (339113), indicating deep expertise in procuring sterile, precision-engineered tools and consumables for operating rooms and clinical labs. She also handles acquisitions in ophthalmic goods and pharmaceutical preparation, demonstrating a broad yet technically grounded understanding of medical device lifecycle requirements and regulatory compliance in defense healthcare environments.