Raymond McCollum serves as the Acquisition Policy Director for the Policy, Oversight, and Category Management (POC) within the Office of Acquisition Management in the Office of the Chief Financial Officer at the National Science Foundation (NSF). In this role, he oversees procurement operations, manages vendor relationships, and evaluates contract performance across the agency. He also serves as NSF’s Acquisition Career Manager (ACM), leading compliance efforts, policy development and implementation, workforce certification programs, the Purchase Card Program, acquisition systems, and serving as the agency’s Acquisition Innovation Advocate (AIA).
Previously at NSF, Mr. McCollum served as Principal Advisor to the Chief Operating Officer (COO) in the Office of the Director, where he managed Full-Time Employee (FTE) and Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) allocations and led enterprise-wide initiatives to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of business operations.
Before joining NSF, Mr. McCollum held senior leadership roles across the federal acquisition community. He served as a Senior Contracting Officer with the Department of State’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security; Strategic Program Manager in GSA’s Office of Government-wide Policy; Shared Services Acquisition Lead in the Office of Shared Solutions and Performance Improvement (OSSPI); and Branch Chief within GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service (FAS), Center for IT Schedules Operations.
A veteran of the United States Army Reserve, Mr. McCollum served nine years, including two tours in Iraq. He is a 2019 Federal Computer Week (FCW) Fed100 award recipient, a National Contract Management Association (NCMA) Fellow and former President of the NCMA DC Chapter, an ACT/IAC Partners Program Fellow, and previously served as Nominating Board Chair for the After-School All-Stars DC program.
Mr. McCollum holds a master’s degree in project management from George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree in operations management, specializing in Purchasing, from The Ohio State University. He maintains multiple professional certifications, including NCMA Certified Professional Contracts Manager (CPCM), FAC-C (Professional), FAC-COR, and FAC-P/PM Level II.
Outside of his professional work, he enjoys following Cleveland-area sports teams and The Ohio State University, hiking, traveling, and spending time with a good cigar.