David Shifler

Dr. David Shifler serves as a senior procurement professional specializing in scientific and engineering research and development acquisitions. In his capacity, he leads the planning, solicitation, and award of contracts for advanced technical projects across the physical, engineering, and life sciences domains. His role is central to advancing federal scientific missions through the strategic acquisition of innovative R&D services, ensuring alignment with national priorities in technology development and scientific discovery. He typically manages complex, performance-based contracts requiring rigorous technical evaluation and risk mitigation, often involving multi-year, high-impact projects. Dr. Shifler’s contractor relationships are broadly distributed across the research and development sector, with no single vendor dominating his portfolio. He engages with a diverse ecosystem of academic research institutions, private-sector laboratories, and specialized consulting firms capable of delivering cutting-edge scientific solutions. His procurement approach emphasizes technical merit, innovation capacity, and proven methodology over vendor size or historical contract history, fostering a competitive environment that rewards scientific excellence and operational agility. Dr. Shifler’s contracting activity is exclusively non-set-aside, with 100% of awards issued under full and open competition. This reflects a deliberate strategy to prioritize technical capability and scientific rigor over socioeconomic preferences, ensuring the highest quality outcomes for mission-critical research initiatives. While small business participation is not formally targeted, the nature of his procurements often attracts capable small firms with niche expertise in specialized scientific domains. His primary focus is on NAICS 541712—Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology). He procures services including advanced materials testing, computational modeling, sensor development, laboratory automation, and applied physics research. His expertise lies in evaluating technical proposals requiring deep domain knowledge in engineering systems, experimental design, and data-driven scientific validation, making him a key steward of federally funded scientific innovation.