Lindsey Balson

Lindsey Balson serves as a key procurement professional at NASA Langley Research Center, supporting the agency’s mission to advance aeronautics and space exploration through technical research and development. Responsible for managing complex acquisition strategies, Balson specializes in securing scientific and engineering services critical to hypersonics, advanced materials, spacecraft instrumentation, and remote sensing technologies. Their work directly enables mission-critical R&D initiatives by ensuring timely and compliant access to specialized expertise, with a focus on high-precision physical and engineering sciences. Balson typically handles sole-source and competitive procurements under the Federal Acquisition Regulation, often involving long-term, high-complexity contracts requiring rigorous technical evaluation. Balson maintains consistent working relationships with a select group of high-caliber contractors, including Jackson Bond Enterprises, LLC, the University of Utah, and Roche Diagnostics Corporation. These partnerships reflect a preference for institutions with proven technical capabilities in aerospace systems, experimental physics, and instrumentation development. The contracting pattern indicates a reliance on established research organizations with deep domain expertise rather than broad commercial vendors, suggesting a focus on mission-specific innovation and scientific rigor over commoditized services. Balson’s procurement portfolio reflects a strong emphasis on open competition, with 100% of awards issued under no set-aside categories. This indicates a strategic prioritization of technical merit and capability over socioeconomic preferences, aligning with NASA Langley’s need for specialized, non-commoditized expertise that may not be readily available among small business pools. While small business participation is not formally targeted, all procurements remain fully compliant with federal acquisition regulations and competitive bidding requirements. The primary NAICS classification for Balson’s acquisitions is 541715—Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences—reflecting a laser focus on advanced scientific services. Procurements center on experimental design, prototype development, data analysis, and systems integration for aerospace applications, with technical domains spanning hypersonic aerodynamics, autonomous spacecraft systems, and high-fidelity simulation modeling.