Paula Baker

Paula Baker serves as a procurement professional within the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, where she plays a critical role in securing high-reliability aircraft components and auxiliary systems essential to U.S. military flight readiness. She manages the acquisition of mission-critical parts including avionics, actuation systems, fuel control units, and other non-engine aviation subsystems under NAICS 336413, ensuring timely delivery to sustain operational aircraft fleets. Her work directly supports DLA Aviation’s mandate to maintain supply chain resilience, mitigate technical obsolescence, and enable rapid logistics response for deployed air assets. She handles competitive and sole-source contracts governed by FAR and DFARS, prioritizing technical compliance, quality assurance, and lifecycle support for legacy and modernized platforms. Paula collaborates with a broad base of certified and non-certified manufacturers and distributors specializing in aerospace-grade components, including both large-tier suppliers and niche engineering firms with deep expertise in military-specification parts. Her contracting patterns reflect a preference for established vendors with proven track records in aerospace certification, traceability, and configuration control. While no single contractor dominates her portfolio, she consistently engages suppliers with AS9100 certification and robust quality management systems to ensure part integrity across the defense aviation supply chain. Paula’s procurement activities are exclusively non-set-aside, with 100% of her acquisitions conducted under full and open competition. This reflects DLA Aviation’s operational imperative to prioritize technical suitability, availability, and rapid turnaround over socioeconomic preferences, though she remains attentive to small business capabilities when they meet stringent performance and certification requirements. Her primary industry focus is NAICS 336413, encompassing the procurement of specialized aircraft parts and auxiliary equipment, including hydraulic components, electrical connectors, flight control actuators, and mission system interfaces. She possesses deep technical familiarity with MIL-SPEC, SAE, and NAS standards, and her expertise lies in sourcing parts that require rigorous documentation, reverse engineering, or obsolescence mitigation strategies to sustain aging airframes and ensure mission continuity.