Laura Ellen Laidet

Laura Ellen Laidet serves as a Contract Specialist within the FA8823 Sustainment MCPNT SSC/PKL under the Department of the Air Force, where she plays a pivotal role in executing complex acquisitions for aerospace and space-based sustainment programs. Her responsibilities include managing the full lifecycle of contracts for guided missile systems, satellite communications, and global positioning infrastructure, ensuring alignment with national defense priorities. She specializes in technical procurement actions governed by FAR and DFARS, coordinating with engineering, logistics, and program management teams to deliver mission-critical capabilities that maintain operational readiness across air and space domains. Laidet collaborates with a diverse ecosystem of defense contractors specializing in advanced navigation, guidance, and aerospace instrumentation systems. While no single contractor dominates her portfolio, she consistently engages with firms possessing deep expertise in avionics, sensor integration, and space vehicle sustainment. Her working relationships are characterized by a focus on technical compliance, performance-based contracting, and long-term sustainment partnerships that support system lifecycle management and modernization efforts. Her procurement patterns reflect a strong commitment to small business participation, with approximately one-third of her acquisitions structured as total small business set-asides under FAR 19.5. She actively leverages socioeconomic programs to foster innovation and resilience within the defense industrial base, prioritizing small businesses capable of delivering specialized aerospace systems. Though the majority of her contracts are open to all competitors, her consistent use of small business set-asides underscores a strategic emphasis on broadening vendor participation and enhancing competition. Laidet’s procurement focus is exclusively centered on NAICS 334511—Search, Detection, Navigation, Guidance, Aeronautical, and Nautical System and Instrument Manufacturing. She procures high-precision navigation systems, satellite payload components, command and control interfaces, and other mission-critical instrumentation essential to air and space superiority. Her technical expertise spans avionics architecture, signal processing, and space-based sensor integration, making her a key conduit between operational requirements and industrial capability development.