Jo Ann Sillaman

Jo Ann Sillaman serves as a Contract Negotiator within the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Propulsion Directorate (FA8650), where she plays a pivotal role in securing advanced aerospace technologies critical to U.S. air and space dominance. Her responsibilities include negotiating complex research and development contracts for next-generation propulsion systems, hypersonic flight technologies, and high-performance functional materials. She ensures compliance with federal acquisition regulations while aligning contractual terms with the agency’s mission to accelerate innovation in propulsion and adaptive flight control systems. Sillaman routinely handles sole-source and competitive acquisitions for high-technical-risk, mission-critical R&D projects requiring specialized engineering expertise and advanced manufacturing capabilities. She maintains consistent working relationships with leading aerospace and defense contractors including UES INC, General Electric Company, DCS Corporation, Spirit Aerosystems Inc, and Advanced Thermoplastic Composites LLC. These partnerships are characterized by long-term collaboration on classified and unclassified R&D initiatives involving propulsion system prototyping, materials characterization, and computational fluid dynamics modeling. Sillaman’s negotiation approach emphasizes technical alignment, performance-based outcomes, and risk-sharing frameworks tailored to the unique demands of defense aerospace innovation. Sillaman’s contracting portfolio reflects a 100% preference for open, unrestricted competition with no set-asides designated for 8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB, or other socioeconomic categories. This reflects the highly specialized nature of the research conducted under her purview, where technical capability and proprietary expertise often necessitate engagement with established industry leaders possessing unique facilities and cleared personnel. Her procurement focus is exclusively centered on NAICS 541712—Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology). She procures advanced materials, propulsion test hardware, flight control algorithms, and high-fidelity simulation tools, requiring deep domain knowledge in aerospace engineering, thermodynamics, and composite material systems. Her work directly supports the development of next-generation military propulsion architectures and mission-critical flight systems.