Marina Zapata

Marina Zapata serves as a key procurement professional at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, supporting the agency’s mission to sustain and modernize critical launch infrastructure. She manages complex construction and facility modernization contracts essential to enabling next-generation launch vehicle processing and spacecraft integration. Her acquisitions focus on mission-critical industrial building projects that ensure operational readiness, environmental compliance, and safety integrity at one of the nation’s primary spaceports. Zapata works within the full spectrum of federal acquisition regulations to deliver high-reliability facilities that support both government and commercial spaceflight operations. She maintains consistent contracting relationships with NUMUNU MARTINEZ JV, LLC and CINKA CONSTRUCTION & CONSULTING SERVICES LLC, both of which provide specialized industrial construction and technical consulting services. These partnerships reflect a preference for contractors with proven experience in aerospace-grade facility construction, including clean room assembly, blast-resistant structures, and hazardous material handling systems. Zapata’s approach emphasizes performance-based contracting, rigorous quality assurance, and contractor accountability aligned with NASA’s stringent technical and safety standards. Zapata’s procurement portfolio reflects a 100% non-set-aside strategy, indicating a focus on full and open competition rather than socioeconomic set-asides. While she does not prioritize 8(a), HUBZone, or SDVOSB programs, her contracting decisions are driven by technical capability, past performance, and facility-specific expertise rather than socioeconomic criteria. This reflects a mission-critical procurement philosophy where operational readiness and technical precision take precedence over socioeconomic preferences. Her primary acquisition focus is on NAICS 236210—Industrial Building Construction—encompassing heavy industrial facilities such as launch pads, vehicle assembly buildings, propellant storage systems, and environmental control infrastructure. She procures turnkey construction services involving reinforced concrete, structural steel, cryogenic systems integration, and radiation shielding, requiring deep domain knowledge in aerospace engineering environments and federal construction codes.