Laura C. Startek

Laura C. Startek serves as a Contract Specialist at the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD), where she plays a pivotal role in procuring advanced aviation systems critical to naval airpower readiness. Responsible for managing the full lifecycle of complex acquisitions, she specializes in technical contracts for avionics, flight control instrumentation, diagnostic systems, and mission-critical support technologies. Her work directly supports NAWCAD’s mission to develop, test, and sustain next-generation naval aircraft systems, ensuring timely delivery of high-performance hardware and software solutions that meet rigorous military specifications. She routinely handles sole-source, competitive, and limited-source procurements under FAR and DFARS guidelines, with a focus on rapid prototyping and sustainment programs. Startek maintains longstanding relationships with leading defense and aerospace contractors including Lockheed Martin Corporation, BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Inc., and PCI Aviation LLC. These partnerships are characterized by deep technical collaboration, iterative requirements development, and consistent performance on high-stakes, low-volume, high-complexity acquisitions. She frequently engages with vendors possessing specialized engineering capabilities in aerospace instrumentation and embedded systems, fostering long-term vendor alignment through clear technical specifications and rigorous source selection criteria. Her contracting portfolio reflects a strong preference for open competition, with 100% of awards issued under no set-aside categories. This indicates a strategic focus on technical superiority and mission-critical capability over socioeconomic set-asides, prioritizing the most qualified industry partners regardless of business size or certification status. Startek’s primary procurement focus lies in NAICS 334519 (Other Measuring and Controlling Device Manufacturing), with significant activity in instrument manufacturing for electrical signals (334515), machine tool systems (333517), and air compression systems (333912). She specializes in acquiring precision instrumentation, flight data acquisition systems, and environmental control components essential to aircraft testing and operational sustainment, demonstrating deep expertise in aerospace systems engineering and test infrastructure procurement.