Darlene L. Schmidt

Darlene L. Schmidt serves as a Contract Specialist within the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), where she plays a pivotal role in executing complex acquisition strategies for advanced missile defense systems. Her responsibilities encompass the full lifecycle of procurement activities, from requirements validation and solicitation development to contract award and administration, ensuring alignment with MDA’s mission to field integrated, layered defense architectures. She specializes in high-technology research and development contracts, managing acquisitions that support sensor modernization, guided interceptors, and midcourse and terminal-phase defense capabilities. Her work directly enables the rapid prototyping and fielding of next-generation missile defense technologies critical to national security. Schmidt maintains consistent, long-term relationships with industry leaders including Lockheed Martin Corp and Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation, partnering with these prime contractors to deliver sophisticated engineering, systems integration, and test services. She also collaborates with Jacobs Technology Inc. on technical support and mission-critical analysis functions. Her contracting approach emphasizes performance-based outcomes, technical risk mitigation, and iterative development cycles, fostering deep vendor engagement throughout the acquisition lifecycle to ensure technical fidelity and schedule adherence. Schmidt’s procurement portfolio reflects a strict focus on full and open competition, with 100% of her awards issued without set-asides for 8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB, or other socioeconomic categories. This reflects the highly specialized nature of missile defense R&D, where only a limited pool of cleared, technically capable vendors possess the requisite security clearances, engineering expertise, and infrastructure to meet mission requirements. Her primary procurement focus is under NAICS 541712—Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences—where she acquires advanced engineering services, radar and discrimination sensor development, hypersonic threat modeling, and guidance system integration. Her expertise lies in procuring cutting-edge defense technologies requiring deep technical oversight and stringent compliance with DoD acquisition regulations.