Sonya M. Carpenter

Sonya M. Carpenter serves as a Contract Specialist within the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), where she plays a critical role in managing the acquisition lifecycle for advanced naval aviation systems. Responsible for planning, soliciting, awarding, and administering contracts, she ensures compliance with federal acquisition regulations while supporting NAVAIR’s mission to develop, test, and sustain air superiority platforms for the Navy and Marine Corps. Her portfolio primarily encompasses aircraft manufacturing, engineering services, and avionics integration, with a focus on carrier-based and expeditionary systems requiring rigorous technical oversight and lifecycle sustainment. Carpenter maintains enduring relationships with prime contractors including Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, Lockheed Martin Corporation, and General Atomics, partnering with industry leaders to deliver cutting-edge aerospace systems and mission-critical support services. Her contracting approach emphasizes performance-based outcomes, technical risk mitigation, and seamless integration of complex platforms such as rotary-wing aircraft, unmanned aerial systems, and weaponized avionics. She routinely engages with defense primes possessing deep domain expertise in naval aviation, fostering collaborative procurement environments that prioritize innovation and operational readiness. Her set-aside preferences reflect a strong alignment with full and open competition, with 94.7% of her acquisitions conducted without socioeconomic set-asides. Only 5.3% are designated as total small business set-asides under FAR 19.5, indicating a strategic emphasis on leveraging large-scale industrial capacity for mission-critical systems while still maintaining pathways for qualified small businesses in niche technical areas. Carpenter’s procurement focus is concentrated in NAICS 336411 (Aircraft Manufacturing) and 541330 (Engineering Services), reflecting her specialization in airframe development, systems integration, and technical support for naval aviation platforms. She routinely procures components for fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, flight control systems, and mission-specific avionics, demonstrating deep technical fluency in aerospace engineering and defense logistics. Her work supports the modernization of the Navy’s tactical air fleet and the sustainment of legacy platforms through advanced manufacturing and systems engineering solutions.