Melissa Santoro

Melissa Santoro serves as a key procurement professional within the W6QK Acc Wva under the Department of the Army, supporting the mission-critical modernization and sustainment of U.S. Army ordnance systems at Watervliet Arsenal. She manages complex acquisitions for high-precision metal components, industrial machine tools, and specialized equipment essential to artillery and munitions production. Her work directly enables the Army’s readiness goals by ensuring the timely delivery of mission-critical hardware through compliant, performance-based contracting practices. Santoro routinely handles sole-source, competitive, and simplified acquisitions under FAR Part 13 and Part 14, with a strong emphasis on technical specifications for precision manufacturing and maintenance services. She maintains established relationships with a core group of contractors including FinCANTIERI Marine Repair LLC, McKenzie Construction & Site Development LLC, and RDC JPA Architecture, L.L.L.P., reflecting a balanced portfolio of industrial, construction, and engineering support vendors. Her contracting approach prioritizes long-term partnerships with firms possessing proven expertise in defense-grade fabrication, facility modernization, and industrial infrastructure upgrades. Santoro’s engagement with contractors emphasizes compliance with military specifications, quality assurance protocols, and adherence to defense supply chain security standards. Santoro demonstrates a pronounced commitment to small business participation, with over two-thirds of her awards designated as total small business set-asides under FAR 19.5. She consistently prioritizes service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses and HUBZone firms, aligning with Department of Defense socioeconomic goals. Her contracting patterns reflect deliberate efforts to expand opportunities for disadvantaged and underserved vendors while maintaining rigorous performance standards. Her procurement focus is anchored in industrial and construction-related NAICS codes, including roofing, site development, and infrastructure support, though she also manages ancillary services in computing infrastructure and advertising for internal communications. Despite the presence of non-core categories, her technical expertise lies in industrial manufacturing support, facility sustainment, and ordnance production-enabling services critical to the Army’s arsenal modernization mission.