Shawnda Forbes

Shawnda Forbes supports the procurement mission of Mschq Norfolk under the Department of the Navy, facilitating critical acquisitions that sustain the operational readiness of U.S. Navy surface and auxiliary vessels. She manages a diverse portfolio of contracts centered on maritime logistics, ship repair, and mission-critical marine equipment, ensuring timely delivery of services essential to fleet sustainment. Her work directly enables the agency’s core objective: maintaining continuous naval deployment through reliable maintenance, deep-sea freight transport, and specialized marine systems procurement. She typically handles complex, multi-year service and supply contracts requiring stringent technical compliance and lifecycle support. Forbes maintains established relationships with key contractors including ExxonMobil Marine Limited for marine fuel and logistics, Vigor Marine LLC for shipyard services and vessel maintenance, Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. for technical and operational support, Foreign Policy Research Institute Inc. for strategic maritime analysis, and Ontic Engineering & Manufacturing, Inc. for specialized component fabrication and repair. These partnerships reflect a preference for experienced, vertically integrated vendors capable of delivering integrated solutions across maintenance, engineering, and supply chain domains, with consistent reliance on proven performers in naval support ecosystems. Her contracting patterns show a strong preference for unrestricted competition, with 92.7% of awards issued without set-asides, indicating a focus on technical capability and mission-critical performance over socioeconomic classifications. While small business participation is limited to 7.3%, it is primarily channeled through Total Small Business Set-Asides under FAR 19.5, suggesting a deliberate but selective approach to small business inclusion based on technical readiness rather than socioeconomic targeting. Forbes’ procurement focus is concentrated in NAICS 811310 for commercial and industrial machinery repair and maintenance, followed by 811219 for miscellaneous repair and maintenance, 333415 for industrial refrigeration systems, and 334511 for nautical navigation and guidance systems. Her technical expertise lies in procuring shipboard mechanical systems, marine environmental controls, and structural metal components critical to vessel survivability and operational endurance.