Nancy S Howard

Nancy S. Howard serves as a Contract Negotiator at Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport, where she plays a pivotal role in securing advanced maritime technologies critical to naval dominance. Responsible for negotiating complex contracts across research, development, and acquisition cycles, she ensures alignment with DoD standards and operational requirements for undersea, surface, and aerial systems. Her portfolio centers on sensor arrays, electronic warfare components, integrated communication architectures, and mission-critical hardware, supporting NUWC’s mission to advance naval warfare capabilities through innovation and rigorous testing. Howard maintains strategic relationships with key industry partners including Science Applications International Corporation, Aerospace & Commercial Technologies, LLC, Astronics Test Systems Inc, Serco Inc, and Mikel Inc. These partnerships reflect a consistent focus on high-technical vendors capable of delivering specialized electronic systems, test instrumentation, and engineering solutions tailored to naval operational environments. Her negotiation approach emphasizes technical compliance, performance-based outcomes, and lifecycle support, fostering long-term vendor collaboration grounded in mission readiness and system interoperability. While the majority of her acquisitions operate under open competition—79.3% with no set-aside—Howard actively supports small business participation, with 20.7% of contracts awarded under Total Small Business Set-Asides per FAR 19.5. This reflects a deliberate, though not predominant, commitment to expanding opportunities for qualified small businesses capable of meeting the technical rigor of naval systems procurement. Her procurement focus is concentrated in engineering services (NAICS 541330), hardware manufacturing (332510), and electronic component manufacturing (334419 and 335999), underscoring deep expertise in signal processing systems, ruggedized electronics, and integrated test equipment. She routinely engages with vendors delivering solutions for sonar arrays, navigation subsystems, and electronic countermeasures, ensuring technical precision and operational resilience across the maritime domain.