Shayla Wray

Shayla Wray 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. She specializes in negotiating complex research and development contracts for next-generation propulsion systems, hypersonic flight technologies, and high-performance functional materials. Her work directly supports the agency’s mission to accelerate innovation in adaptive flight control and mission-critical materials by ensuring timely, compliant, and technically sound procurement outcomes. Wray handles primarily non-commercial, cost-reimbursement and fixed-price R&D acquisitions, often involving multi-year, high-risk engineering efforts requiring deep technical oversight and risk mitigation strategies. Wray maintains longstanding partnerships with industry leaders including UES Inc., General Electric Company, DCS Corporation, Spirit Aerosystems Inc., and Advanced Thermoplastic Composites LLC. These relationships are built on sustained collaboration in propulsion system development, materials characterization, and flight systems integration. She consistently engages with Tier-1 defense contractors possessing specialized expertise in aerospace engineering, composite manufacturing, and computational fluid dynamics, fostering contract structures that incentivize innovation while ensuring technical accountability and performance-based deliverables. Wray’s procurement portfolio reflects a strong preference for open competition, with 100% of her acquisitions conducted under no set-aside provisions. This reflects the highly specialized, mission-critical nature of the technologies procured, which typically require advanced engineering capabilities beyond the scope of small business capacity. While she does not prioritize socioeconomic set-asides, her approach ensures rigorous technical evaluation and fair competition among qualified industry partners capable of meeting extreme performance thresholds. Her primary procurement focus lies within NAICS 541712 and 541715, encompassing physical and engineering research and development in aerospace systems. She procures advanced propulsion components, high-temperature materials, flight control algorithms, and integrated testbed systems, requiring deep domain expertise in thermodynamics, aerodynamics, and materials science. Wray’s contracting decisions are guided by technical feasibility, scalability, and alignment with Air Force propulsion modernization roadmaps.