PANAMA CITY, Fla. –
Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division (NSWC PCD) strives to apply its expertise to emerging subsea and seabed warfare mission areas to support U.S. Navy dominance within the littoral battlespace. Yet these results of balanced science and technology, and research, development, testing and evaluation do not happen without contributions from the command’s contracts department.
Anna Belle Tiller, NSWC PCD Littoral and Mine Systems Contracts Division contracting officer, earned her bachelor’s in accounting from Florida State University and has received her master’s in contract management from the Naval Postgraduate School. Her skills and drive have helped this Navy lab achieve its vision—delivering relevant solutions in the littorals from seabed to space: For Today, Tomorrow and the Navy after Next—since arriving in 2020.
“[In my role], I support the NSWC PCD vision by helping define requirements for supplies and services needed to support our Navy, and by providing business solutions to our end users,” said Tiller. “My objective is to find the best possible source at a fair and reasonable price and deliver the resource to the fleet or our customers at the speed of relevance.”
Her impact was so indelible, she was recently awarded the Navy Civilian Service Achievement Medal for her numerous efforts to ensure the fleet can continue receiving in-service engineering agent support on the unmanned surface vehicles being deployed as part of the mine countermeasure mission package on littoral combat ships. This capability is designed to detect, identify, and neutralize mines in various depths and environments and provides the U.S. Navy with a flexible and adaptable system for addressing evolving threats in the undersea domain.
“When I received [this award], I felt deep gratitude, honor, and patriotism. It meant quite a lot for Capt. Paul Stence Jr., [NSWC PCD commanding officer]] to present me with the award,” said Tiller. “I am very lucky to belong to an organization that encourages employees to do great things and recognizes those achievements.”
Her ability to conduct market research, negotiate, collaborate and deliver timely results also obtained cost savings of nearly $80M. Through her business proficiency and ability to enhance strategic partnerships, her efforts helped to improve the U.S. Navy's dominance in subsea and seabed warfare, which is vital for national security, economic interests and global stability in an increasingly complex and contested undersea environment.
Despite this impressive accomplishment, recognition was not her motivating factor.
“[In achieving the NSWC PCD mission] it’s important to me that taxpayer dollars are spent wisely and for the maximum benefit of our warfighters,” said Tiller. “Getting them what they need to carry out the mission is the least I can do for the protection they afford us every day.”