Peter A. Ricci

Peter A. Ricci serves as the primary contracting officer for the Air Force Research Laboratory’s FA8750 RIK office, where he leads the acquisition of foundational research and development programs critical to next-generation aerospace and defense capabilities. He manages a portfolio of scientific and engineering contracts focused on autonomous systems, resilient communications, AI-enabled battle-space awareness, and quantum-enabled technologies. Ricci ensures that procurement strategies align with the lab’s mission to translate fundamental scientific innovation into operational advantage, overseeing the full lifecycle of R&D contracts from solicitation to award and performance monitoring. His primary contractor relationships include established defense and technology leaders such as Booz Allen Hamilton, Lockheed Martin, and Eaton Corporation, alongside specialized innovators like Technergetics and Caelight, Inc. Ricci consistently engages these partners to deliver advanced solutions in physics-based modeling, free-space optical communications, and embedded AI architectures. His procurement approach emphasizes technical rigor, performance-based outcomes, and long-term collaboration with vendors possessing deep domain expertise in aerospace sciences and systems integration. Ricci’s contracting activity shows a 100% preference for non-set-aside procurements, reflecting the highly specialized, mission-critical nature of the R&D work he supports. While small business participation is not formally prioritized through socioeconomic set-asides, his portfolio includes capable small firms that demonstrate technical excellence in niche domains, suggesting a merit-based selection process grounded in capability rather than socioeconomic classification. His procurement focus is exclusively under NAICS 541715—Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences—where he acquires services spanning experimental physics, advanced materials, signal processing, and autonomous system prototyping. Ricci’s expertise lies in structuring complex, performance-driven R&D contracts that enable breakthroughs in high-priority Air Force technology areas without reliance on commercial off-the-shelf solutions.