Aileen L. Oppenlander

Aileen L. Oppenlander serves as a Purchasing Agent for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS), where she plays a critical role in securing specialized equipment and services essential to advancing agricultural science. Her procurement activities support cutting-edge research in crop genetics, livestock health, and sustainable farming technologies, with a focus on acquiring precision instrumentation, laboratory analytics tools, and field-deployable agricultural systems. She ensures compliance with federal acquisition regulations while aligning purchases with ARS’s mission to modernize research infrastructure and enhance scientific output through strategic sourcing. Oppenlander maintains a primary working relationship with McKenzie Construction & Site Development LLC, a contractor engaged in facility upgrades and site infrastructure critical to supporting ARS research operations. Her procurement patterns reflect a preference for established vendors with proven expertise in scientific facility development and maintenance, indicating a reliance on trusted partners capable of delivering complex, mission-critical construction and site services under stringent federal standards. Her engagement with contractors is characterized by structured, transparent processes focused on performance, compliance, and long-term operational reliability. Her contracting activity shows no use of socioeconomic set-asides, with 100% of her acquisitions awarded under full and open competition. This reflects a strategic emphasis on technical capability and operational readiness over socioeconomic preferences, consistent with the ARS’s need for specialized, non-commoditized services that require high levels of technical expertise and regulatory compliance. While specific NAICS codes are not available, her acquisitions are concentrated in technical domains related to scientific facility construction, laboratory infrastructure, and agricultural research support systems. She procures services involving site development, utility integration, environmental controls for biosafety labs, and custom-built research spaces—domains requiring deep familiarity with USDA and federal research facility standards. Her expertise lies in bridging scientific requirements with construction and engineering execution to enable high-integrity research environments.