Nicole Pilato

Nicole Pilato serves as a key procurement lead within the FA2518 USSF SPOC/SAIO, a specialized unit under the Department of the Air Force focused on advancing space domain capabilities. She manages the acquisition of high-priority engineering, research, and technical services essential to sustaining and modernizing space-based surveillance, satellite communications, and electromagnetic warfare systems. Her work directly supports the U.S. Space Force’s mission to ensure operational superiority in contested space environments by securing mission-critical capabilities through timely, compliant, and technically rigorous contracting actions. Pilato specializes in non-commercial, performance-based acquisitions requiring deep technical expertise in space systems integration and signal intelligence. Pilato maintains consistent working relationships with a core group of trusted contractors including Keystone Mission Solutions Corp, Riverside Research Institute, and Bowhead Information Technology Service LLC. These partners are frequently engaged for their specialized capabilities in space systems engineering, signals analysis, and secure communications architecture. Her procurement approach emphasizes long-term vendor partnerships built on proven technical proficiency, past performance, and mission alignment, favoring firms with demonstrated experience in classified and sensitive space operations environments. Pilato’s contracting portfolio reflects a strict focus on open competition, with 100% of awards issued under no set-aside categories. This underscores a procurement strategy prioritizing technical excellence and mission readiness over socioeconomic preferences, ensuring access to the most capable and experienced service providers in the national security space sector. While small business participation is not formally incentivized through set-asides, her awards remain accessible to all qualified vendors meeting stringent technical and security requirements. Her primary procurement focus is centered on NAICS 541990—All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services—encompassing advanced space systems engineering, electromagnetic spectrum operations, satellite network resilience, and space domain awareness analytics. She consistently acquires mission-specific technical services requiring deep expertise in space architecture, secure data links, and contested environment survivability, aligning acquisitions with the evolving threats and technological demands of the modern space domain.