Lisa Ayeni

Lisa Ayeni serves as a Contract Specialist within the Contracts and Acquisitions Management unit of the U.S. Department of Education, where she plays a pivotal role in executing strategic procurements that advance federal education policy and institutional capacity. She manages the full lifecycle of professional services contracts, with a primary focus on research and analysis supporting postsecondary education reform, regulatory compliance, and federal student aid infrastructure. Her acquisitions are designed to secure evidence-based expertise that informs national education data systems and policy development, ensuring alignment with statutory mandates and federal acquisition regulations. Ayeni maintains a consistent working relationship with LPE-STRATEGIES LLC, a key contractor specializing in social science research and policy analysis. Her procurement approach emphasizes long-term, performance-based partnerships with vendors capable of delivering high-quality, data-driven insights. She engages primarily with firms possessing deep expertise in qualitative and quantitative research methodologies, ensuring that contracted services meet rigorous standards for validity, reproducibility, and policy relevance. Her contracting portfolio is exclusively structured as Total Small Business Set-Asides under FAR 19.5, reflecting a steadfast commitment to socioeconomic equity and small business development. Every award is reserved for small businesses, fostering a contracting environment that prioritizes capacity building among minority-owned, women-owned, and other small business concerns in the education research sector. Ayeni’s primary procurement focus is on NAICS 541720—Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities. She specializes in acquiring services related to educational outcomes analysis, institutional effectiveness studies, policy evaluation, and data system design for federal education programs. Her domain expertise lies in supporting complex, mission-critical research initiatives that inform national education strategy and enhance the integrity of federal student aid operations.