DAHLGREN, Va. –
“The simple way to explain it is that I buy stuff for the Navy,” said Victoria Le. She expanded further in the next beat, noting that “If I do my job well, then we’re providing Sailors or Marines with high-quality solutions while safeguarding taxpayer resources.”
As a contract specialist at Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD), Victoria Le regularly works on procurement contracts valued in the millions of dollars in order to equip the Navy with products and services needed to accomplish their worldwide mission. Colleagues in the contracting department “support every single department on base,” according to Le, and are responsible for identifying industry partners to furnish everything from computers to combat systems, and the contracted teams of engineers and technicians who work on base alongside their Navy counterparts.
Le grew up in Chantilly, just a half-hour drive from the Department of Defense, but didn’t realize as a student that her career ambitions would later find their ideal match in the Navy. “Initially, I was set on being a pharmacist,” said Le, who successfully obtained a pharmacy technician certification in high school, but quickly realized that her passion lay elsewhere. “It was mainly the chemistry aspect and I’m uncomfortable with needles,” Le joked. “This was just not for me.”
After graduating high school, Le attended the University of Mary Washington for a major in business administration with a management concentration. That led to a three-year employee development program starting in 2017, mirroring the Naval Acquisition Development Program on-site at Dahlgren.
“I found that the job has a nurturing and support element to it, in addition to the business side,” said Le, who found that her seemingly-unrelated prior work actually had natural parallels with a civilian career in the Navy.
Working with the contract department at Dahlgren, Le continuously watches and learns about a broad range of activities including “cost analysis, price analysis, market research, writing business cases and conducting negotiations.” Typically, when the Department of Defense needs to acquire something, contract specialists work through these steps to make the best purchase possible for the government, at a price that is fair to both taxpayers and industry partners that accomplish the work.
“There are a lot of things that go into it,” said Le. “What kind of widget or service do we need? Can a small business provide this, or is it more suited for a large company? How many of these contract proposals are technically acceptable? Are they realistic?” From start to finish, Le noted that the entire procurement process can span a year or longer, in order to give each contract the appropriate levels of vetting and scrutiny. “I was taught to think about it as if it were my money being spent,” said Le. “I want to make sure that it is being spent wisely, and that’s why this is so fulfilling.”