Nicole Stsewart

Nicole Stewart serves as a procurement professional within the 246-NETWORK Contracting Office 6 (36C246) of the Department of Veterans Affairs, where she plays a critical role in securing medical equipment, surgical instruments, and electromedical technologies essential to Veterans Health Administration facilities. Her work directly supports the agency’s mission to modernize clinical infrastructure and ensure operational readiness across VA healthcare sites. She specializes in complex acquisitions governed by FAR Part 12 and Part 36, focusing on high-precision diagnostic and therapeutic devices, laboratory instrumentation, and specialized facility upgrades that enhance patient care delivery. Her portfolio reflects a technical, mission-driven approach to contracting, prioritizing reliability, regulatory compliance, and clinical interoperability. Stewart maintains established relationships with leading manufacturers and service providers in the medical technology sector, including Cepheid, Roche Diagnostics Corporation, and Progenics Pharmaceuticals, among others. These partnerships are characterized by long-term, performance-based contract structures that emphasize technical specifications, validation protocols, and supply chain resilience. Her contracting patterns favor established industry leaders with proven capabilities in FDA-regulated products, while maintaining structured oversight to ensure compliance with quality standards and post-award performance metrics. Her set-aside preferences reflect a predominantly open competition model, with 90% of acquisitions conducted without socioeconomic set-asides. However, she consistently allocates approximately 8% of opportunities to Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSBs), demonstrating a targeted commitment to veteran entrepreneurship within the healthcare supply chain. Small business participation remains a secondary but intentional focus, aligned with VA’s broader socioeconomic goals. Stewart’s procurement expertise centers on NAICS codes 339112 (Surgical and Medical Instrument Manufacturing) and 339113 (Surgical Appliance and Supplies Manufacturing), with significant activity in analytical laboratory instruments (334516) and electromedical apparatus (334510). She procures a range of high-acuity clinical tools—from surgical robotics and diagnostic analyzers to sterilization and monitoring systems—requiring deep technical understanding of medical device standards, biocompatibility requirements, and healthcare facility integration protocols.