Milton G Spears

Milton G. Spears serves as a Contracting Officer for the Maritime Administration under the U.S. Department of Transportation, where he manages the acquisition of critical maritime infrastructure and operational support services aligned with national security and economic resilience goals. His portfolio centers on the procurement of vessel construction, repair, and maintenance contracts essential to sustaining the U.S. merchant marine fleet. Spears oversees full lifecycle contracting actions—from solicitation through award and administration—ensuring compliance with FAR regulations and strategic objectives to revitalize domestic shipbuilding capacity and enhance fleet readiness. He routinely handles complex, high-stakes acquisitions involving shipyard modernization, technical engineering services, and logistics support for commercial and government-owned vessels. Spears maintains longstanding relationships with key industry partners including L1 Enterprises Incorporated, Bay Ship & Yacht Co., Logis-Tech, LLC, and HF Fabrication LLC, reflecting a preference for established vendors with proven expertise in shipbuilding, marine fabrication, and technical support services. His contracting patterns indicate a focus on collaborative, performance-based engagements with contractors possessing specialized capabilities in maritime engineering and vessel maintenance. These partnerships are characterized by repeat business and deep technical alignment with the agency’s operational needs, suggesting a reliance on trusted, qualified sources capable of meeting stringent maritime standards. While the majority of his acquisitions (79.7%) are conducted without set-asides, Spears demonstrates a meaningful commitment to small business participation, with nearly 20% of awards designated as total small business set-asides under FAR 19.5. He also regularly supports service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, reflecting a deliberate effort to broaden vendor diversity within the maritime industrial base. His socioeconomic contracting approach balances efficiency with statutory mandates to promote equitable access for qualified small businesses in a traditionally capital-intensive sector. His primary procurement focus lies in NAICS 336611 (Ship Building and Repairing), where he oversees the acquisition of new vessel construction, dry-docking, and structural repairs. He also procures related engineering services (NAICS 541330), temporary maritime labor (NAICS 561320), and environmental remediation (NAICS 562910), demonstrating broad technical fluency across the maritime lifecycle. Spears is recognized for his expertise in complex, technical contracting environments requiring deep domain knowledge of marine systems, regulatory compliance, and industrial capacity planning.