Nancy Van Gelder

Nancy Van Gelder serves as a Contract Specialist at Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport, where she plays a pivotal role in executing complex procurements that support the Department of the Navy’s mission to advance undersea, surface, and aerial warfare capabilities. She manages the full lifecycle of acquisitions for high-technology systems, including sensor arrays, navigation instrumentation, electronic warfare components, and integrated communication platforms essential to naval dominance. Her work ensures timely delivery of mission-critical technologies through compliant, risk-managed contracting practices aligned with Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) and Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) requirements. Van Gelder maintains consistent working relationships with leading defense and aerospace contractors including Science Applications International Corporation, Aerospace & Commercial Technologies, LLC, Astronics Test Systems Inc, Serco Inc, and Mikel Inc. These partnerships reflect a preference for vendors with proven expertise in maritime system integration, test and evaluation infrastructure, and advanced electronics manufacturing. Her contracting approach emphasizes technical rigor, performance-based outcomes, and long-term vendor collaboration to sustain innovation in naval systems. Her procurement strategy reflects a balanced commitment to socioeconomic goals, with approximately half of her actions set aside for small businesses under FAR 19.5, and the other half awarded as open competitions. This pattern demonstrates a deliberate effort to foster competition while ensuring robust small business participation across the defense industrial base, without favoring specific socioeconomic categories like 8(a) or HUBZone. Her primary NAICS focus areas include 334511 for search, detection, and navigation systems; 332710 for precision machine shop services; and 333924 for industrial material handling equipment—each critical to the development and sustainment of naval platforms. She routinely procures specialized hardware, test instrumentation, and electro-mechanical assemblies that enable advanced sonar, countermeasure, and autonomous system operations in complex maritime environments.