Sara Cooper

Sara Cooper serves as a key procurement professional within the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head Division, supporting the Department of the Navy’s mission to advance ordnance systems, explosives, and precision instrumentation for naval warfare. She manages a diverse portfolio of acquisitions focused on the development, testing, and sustainment of mission-critical defense technologies, including specialized manufacturing, analytical instrumentation, and facilities support services. Her work ensures the reliability and readiness of naval ordnance through timely contract execution and technical oversight, aligning procurement activities with the agency’s modernization priorities and operational requirements. Cooper maintains established relationships with a core group of contractors including TOTAL CONCEPTS OF DESIGN INC, Boh Environmental, L.L.C., CHUCKING MACHINE PRODUCTS, INC., CANADIAN COMMERCIAL CORP, and DEVAL LIFE CYCLE SUPPORT LLC. These partnerships reflect a preference for vendors with proven expertise in precision metal fabrication, environmental compliance for ordnance handling, and lifecycle support for sensitive military systems. Her contracting approach emphasizes long-term vendor collaboration, technical capability validation, and supply chain resilience, particularly for specialized components requiring stringent quality controls and defense-specific certifications. Her procurement patterns show a strong preference for open competition, with 89.6% of awards issued without set-aside restrictions, indicating a focus on technical merit and capability over socioeconomic classifications. While small business participation remains a secondary priority at 10.4%, it is consistently directed toward Total Small Business Set-Asides under FAR 19.5, reflecting a balanced approach that prioritizes mission needs while still enabling qualified small firms to contribute to critical ordnance programs. Her primary NAICS focus areas include 332710 (Machine Shops) and 332999 (Miscellaneous Fabricated Metal Products), underscoring expertise in precision machining of ordnance components. She also regularly procures analytical laboratory instruments (334516) and specialized control systems (334519), demonstrating deep technical familiarity with detection, measurement, and safety systems critical to explosive handling and weapons testing environments.