Michelle Kouis

Michelle Kouis serves as a Contract Specialist responsible for managing the full lifecycle of complex procurement actions within a federal research and development environment. She ensures compliance with federal acquisition regulations while executing competitive and non-competitive acquisitions aligned with mission-critical scientific objectives. Her work centers on soliciting, evaluating, and awarding contracts for technical services that advance physical, engineering, and life sciences research. She collaborates closely with program offices to translate technical requirements into enforceable contract terms, ensuring alignment with statutory obligations and acquisition best practices. Michelle maintains a broad network of vendors specializing in scientific research, laboratory services, data analytics, and advanced engineering support. While no single contractor dominates her portfolio, she regularly engages with firms possessing deep domain expertise in experimental design, instrumentation development, and computational modeling. Her contracting approach emphasizes open competition, rigorous source selection, and performance-based outcomes, fostering long-term partnerships with contractors capable of delivering high-precision, mission-critical solutions under stringent technical and compliance standards. Michelle’s procurement patterns reflect a strong preference for open, unrestricted competition, with 100% of her awards issued under non-set-aside authorities. She does not routinely utilize socioeconomic set-asides such as 8(a), HUBZone, or SDVOSB programs, instead prioritizing technical capability and past performance as the primary evaluation criteria. This approach underscores her focus on mission readiness over socioeconomic targets, though she remains compliant with all applicable small business outreach and reporting requirements. Her primary acquisition focus is exclusively under NAICS 541712—Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology). She procures a wide array of services including applied R&D, prototype development, systems engineering, analytical testing, and scientific consulting. Her expertise lies in managing contracts for cutting-edge scientific infrastructure, laboratory automation, and data-driven research initiatives, making her a key liaison between federal science programs and the specialized contractor community supporting innovation in non-biotech R&D.