Michele Sandlin

Michele Sandlin serves as a key procurement professional within the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), supporting the acquisition and lifecycle sustainment of critical naval aviation systems. She manages complex contract actions for advanced aircraft platforms, avionics, and mission-critical aerospace systems, ensuring alignment with NAVAIR’s mission to maintain air superiority through cutting-edge technology integration. Her work spans the full acquisition lifecycle—from requirements definition and source selection to contract execution and performance oversight—focusing on high-priority programs for carrier-based and expeditionary aviation assets. Sandlin’s expertise lies in navigating stringent defense acquisition regulations to deliver mission-ready capabilities to the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. She maintains consistent, long-term relationships with leading defense aerospace prime contractors, including Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, Lockheed Martin Corporation, and General Atomics, engaging them on major platforms such as rotary-wing aircraft, unmanned aerial systems, and integrated weapons suites. Her contracting approach emphasizes performance-based outcomes, technical innovation, and industrial base resilience, often coordinating with engineering and logistics teams to align procurement with operational readiness goals. These partnerships are characterized by deep technical collaboration and a focus on sustainment and modernization over new start development. Sandlin’s procurement portfolio reflects a strong preference for full and open competition, with 100% of awards issued under no set-aside classifications. This indicates a strategic emphasis on leveraging the broadest industrial capacity to meet mission-critical requirements, with limited use of socioeconomic programs such as 8(a), HUBZone, or SDVOSB set-asides. Her approach prioritizes technical capability and system interoperability over socioeconomic criteria, consistent with NAVAIR’s focus on high-performance defense systems. Her primary procurement focus lies in NAICS 336411 (Aircraft Manufacturing), encompassing the acquisition of manned and unmanned naval aircraft, and NAICS 334511 (Aeronautical System and Instrument Manufacturing), covering avionics, sensors, and mission systems. She specializes in procuring integrated flight control systems, radar and electronic warfare suites, and support infrastructure critical to naval air operations.