Major Sandra Martinez

Major Sandra Martinez serves as a key contracting professional within the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), supporting the Department of the Air Force’s mission to advance foundational research for next-generation aerospace and defense systems. She manages the acquisition of high-risk, high-reward basic research contracts focused on autonomous systems, advanced sensing, navigation technologies, and human-machine collaboration. Her work bridges academic innovation with national security needs, ensuring that cutting-edge scientific discoveries are translated into viable defense capabilities through strategic procurement pathways. She specializes in research and development contracts awarded to universities, nonprofit research institutions, and small businesses engaged in applied physics, computational modeling, and sensor system development. Major Martinez cultivates partnerships primarily with small businesses and academic research entities, fostering long-term collaborations that align with AFOSR’s mission of nurturing early-stage innovation. While no single contractor dominates her portfolio, she consistently engages with firms possessing specialized technical expertise in aeronautical instrumentation, navigation systems, and embedded computing. Her procurement approach emphasizes agility, technical merit, and scalability, often utilizing Other Transaction Authorities (OTAs) and research grants to accelerate the transition of novel technologies from lab to field. She maintains a 100% Small Business Set-Aside preference under FAR 19.5, reflecting a deep institutional commitment to socioeconomic diversity in foundational research funding. All her acquisitions are reserved for small businesses, including 8(a), HUBZone, and SDVOSB-certified firms, ensuring broad participation from underrepresented innovators. This pattern underscores AFOSR’s strategy to leverage entrepreneurial agility and niche technical capabilities to meet evolving defense challenges. Her procurement focus is exclusively centered on NAICS 334511—Search, Detection, Navigation, Guidance, Aeronautical, and Nautical System and Instrument Manufacturing. She procures advanced sensors, inertial navigation units, autonomous guidance algorithms, and integrated avionics systems, requiring deep domain expertise in aerospace instrumentation, signal processing, and real-time control systems. Her technical acumen ensures that funded research directly supports Air Force modernization priorities in contested environments.