Laura Ottenstein

Laura Ottenstein serves as a key procurement professional at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, where she manages complex acquisitions supporting the development and integration of advanced space systems and scientific instrumentation. Her work directly enables the Center’s mission to advance Earth observation, deep-space telecommunications, and planetary exploration through the procurement of high-reliability hardware, mission-critical sensors, and specialized research services. She typically handles sole-source and competitive procurements for classified and unclassified spaceflight systems, focusing on mission assurance, technical compliance, and lifecycle support for flight-qualified components. Ottenstein maintains strong, long-term partnerships with leading technical contractors including Aerospace & Commercial Technologies, LLC, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory. These relationships are characterized by deep technical collaboration, iterative requirements development, and contract structures that support rapid prototyping and systems integration. Her procurement approach emphasizes performance-based contracting and technical risk mitigation, often leveraging Other Transaction Authorities and research agreements to accelerate innovation in space systems engineering. Her contracting activity shows no reliance on socioeconomic set-asides, with 100% of awards issued under full and open competition. This reflects a mission-critical focus on technical excellence and specialized capability over socioeconomic preferences, aligning with NASA’s need for highly specialized, flight-proven suppliers with proven track records in extreme-environment engineering. Her primary procurement focus lies in NAICS 336419, encompassing guided missile and space vehicle parts and auxiliary equipment, including avionics, propulsion subsystems, and radiation-hardened electronics. She also frequently procures research and development services under NAICS 541715, supporting advanced physics modeling, sensor calibration, and space environment testing. Her domain expertise centers on spacecraft subsystems, space-qualified instrumentation, and mission-critical software development for Earth and planetary science missions.