Cheryl L. Owens

Cheryl L. Owens serves as a Contract Specialist within the Air Force Research Laboratory’s FA8651 Rwk organization, where she plays a critical role in executing complex research and development acquisitions aligned with the Department of the Air Force’s mission to advance next-generation aerospace and hypersonic technologies. She manages the full lifecycle of sole-source and competitive contracts for high-risk, high-reward scientific initiatives, focusing on engineering innovation in autonomy, guided missile systems, space vehicle development, and infrared scene projection. Her work ensures timely procurement of technical solutions that support classified and unclassified R&D programs essential to national defense superiority. Cheryl consistently collaborates with Concurrent Real-Time, Inc., a trusted partner in real-time simulation, embedded systems, and high-fidelity modeling environments. Her contracting patterns reflect a preference for established technical vendors with proven expertise in defense-critical R&D domains, often leveraging Other Transaction Authorities (OTAs) and Basic Ordering Agreements (BOAs) to accelerate innovation cycles. She fosters long-term, performance-driven relationships with contractors who demonstrate deep domain knowledge in physics-based simulation, real-time data fusion, and mission-critical software integration. Cheryl’s procurement portfolio is entirely non-set-aside, with 100% of her acquisitions conducted under full and open competition. This reflects the specialized, mission-critical nature of the technologies she procures, where technical capability and rapid innovation outweigh socioeconomic preferences. While she does not prioritize 8(a), HUBZone, or SDVOSB set-asides, her approach ensures that only vendors with the requisite technical maturity and security clearance levels are selected. Her primary focus is on NAICS 541715—Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences—where she procures advanced engineering services including computational modeling, sensor development, autonomous control algorithms, and hypersonic flight test instrumentation. Her expertise lies in acquiring mission-specific R&D deliverables that bridge laboratory innovation with operational fielding, ensuring alignment with AFRL’s strategic imperatives in air, space, and hypersonic dominance.