Caroline Lira is the team lead and contracting officer for Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC), Carderock Division’s Contracts Branch (Code 0232). Lira’s branch supports the Combatant Craft Division (Code 83) by providing them with the appropriate large contract vehicles necessary for supplies and services that maintain and repair the Navy's fleet of smaller watercraft.

“If it deals with a watercraft less than 230 feet in length, we're on it,” Lira said. “Most of our contracts range from a little more than $1 million to $50 million. We also have contractor support for waterfront operations and engineering services.”

As a team lead, Lira is the first step in the review process to establish quality control of the branch’s work products, ensuring that the team provides the proper contract support and advice. She is the contracting officer for three large contract vehicles, and reviews approved sign-offs on any changes and modifications. Lira also delegates and distributes work amongst the team members, whom she refers to as a group of rock stars.

Lira is relatively new to Carderock, joining the command in January 2020. She began her career in federal contracting in 2003 as a contractor for an AbilityOne Program, the largest employment source for people with disabilities.

“I have a soft spot for the AbilityOne Program,” she said. “When I started there, I didn’t have a degree at the time and worked my way up kind of grassroots as a contracts manager. Then the Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) picked me up after I got my degree in 2009.”

Lira is originally from Chimacum, a small dairy community in Washington with a population of about 5,000.

“It’s named after a Native American tribe that used to live there,” she said. “The big news 30 years ago was when we finally got a blinking yellow stop light. Kindergarten through 12th grade was at the same location, and I had a graduating class of 72 people. I didn't realize how quaint it was until I got out into the world a little bit.”

Lira became interested in business when she was in high school. At age 14, she began taking every available business class.

“It always appealed to me because, no matter what you're interested in, if you don't know how to run the business side of it, you're not going to get very far,” she said.

When Lira began to pursue her degree, she realized that her circumstances would make it difficult to attend a physical school.

“I was living in my remote hometown, and I was a working single mom, so I couldn't go to a standard university because I already wasn't seeing my kids enough,” Lira said. “The nearest school was in Seattle, more than two hours away.”

That’s when Lira decided to attend an online school.

After spending nights and weekends reading her manuals after putting her children to bed, Lira earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Phoenix. She received her master’s degree in business administration in 2015 and graduated as a member of Delta Mu Delta, the Greek letter society for academic excellence.

Lira took a position with NAVFAC in Naples, Italy, from 2012 to 2014. She explained that her experience in Italy was intense, working long hours in a dynamic environment with many unfamiliar rules and regulations.

“Anyone who goes overseas thinking that it’s going to be a vacation is in for a rude awakening,” she said.

After returning from Italy in 2014, she took a position with NAVFAC Southeast in Panama City, Florida. Still, she wasn’t there long before she was recruited for a position at NSWC Panama City Division in the summer of 2015. Then, in October 2018, Hurricane Michael hit.

“There was a lot of devastation,” Lira said. “I was one of the more fortunate ones. I didn't lose my house, but there was much to repair. We were all dislocated for a couple of months without water or electricity. It wasn’t long after that when I started looking at other locations.”

In her free time, Lira enjoys crafts and interior design. Nothing makes her happier than having her nose in a book. She has recently been enjoying the Jack Reacher series of mystery novels.

“I love to read,” she said. “I am a bookworm. I’m happiest when reading a really good mystery novel before a fireplace. That's like my ultimate ‘yay moment.’”


Lira also loves spending time with her five-year-old granddaughter, Adrian.

“Adrian is the light of my life,” Lira said. “She gives me purpose.”