Naval Air Systems Command
NAVAIR, headquartered at Patuxent River, Maryland, develops, buys, and sustains the aircraft, weapons, and systems flown by the Navy and Marine Corps.
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What they buy
NAVAIR buys whole aircraft, engines, avionics, weapons, unmanned systems, simulators, and support equipment, plus the engineering and test work that goes with them. Its program offices manage the platforms, and its warfare center divisions at Patuxent River, Lakehurst, China Lake, and Point Mugu handle test, evaluation, and support equipment.
The Fleet Readiness Centers, which report to NAVAIR, repair and overhaul aircraft, engines, and components. They are where a machine shop, a coater, or a harness builder is most likely to see a part-level buy rather than a platform-level contract.
How they buy
Large platform and sustainment contracts go to prime contractors and run for years. They show up on SAM.gov as sources sought, presolicitation, and award notices, but competition is usually among a few primes.
Smaller buys come from the warfare centers and Fleet Readiness Centers: indefinite delivery contracts for engineering and support, blanket purchase agreements for recurring items, and purchase orders for one-off parts, tooling, and repairs. Repair parts for fielded aircraft are mostly bought by NAVSUP Weapon Systems Support and DLA Aviation, so check those buyers too.
How a small shop gets in
Register in SAM.gov with the NAICS codes you can honestly perform. Watch SAM.gov for sources sought and requests for information from the warfare centers and FRCs, and respond even when the notice is early. Those responses shape whether a buy is set aside for small business.
Contact the NAVAIR Office of Small Business Programs and the small business specialists at each field activity. For platform work, subcontracting to the prime that holds the contract is the practical route. If you want to sell repair parts, learn the source approval process at NAVSUP WSS, since NAVAIR engineering approves alternate sources for its aircraft.
Platform dollars flow through primes
Most NAVAIR spending goes to a few prime contractors. For a small shop, the realistic first step is a subcontract or a field activity purchase order, not a direct platform award.
Related guides
- Sources sought and RFIsRespond early to shape the set-aside decision.
- Subcontracting to primesHow to get on a prime's approved supplier list.
- SAM registrationGet registered before anything else.
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