Amanda Barbosa

Amanda Barbosa serves as a secondary contracting professional within the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, supporting mission-critical acquisitions to protect U.S. agricultural biosecurity. While not the primary contracting officer, she plays a vital role in facilitating the procurement of specialized aviation, laboratory, and agricultural support services essential to APHIS’s surveillance and containment operations. Her work primarily involves managing complex, technical acquisitions tied to non-scheduled air transportation, aircraft maintenance, and analytical instrumentation, ensuring alignment with federal procurement regulations and agency biosecurity priorities. Barbosa frequently collaborates with a focused group of contractors including Aerospace & Commercial Technologies, LLC, Thorobred Aviation Maintenance, Inc., and AR6 Construction & Engineering, LLC, reflecting a preference for niche providers with expertise in aviation logistics and infrastructure support. Her procurement patterns indicate strong working relationships with vendors capable of delivering specialized air transport services for field diagnostics, pest monitoring, and rapid-response operations. These partnerships are often characterized by repeat engagements and technical specificity, underscoring a reliance on contractors with proven capabilities in high-risk, time-sensitive environments. Her contracting activity demonstrates a pronounced commitment to small business participation, with over 81% of awards designated as total small business set-asides under FAR 19.5. This reflects a deliberate strategy to cultivate a resilient supplier base of small, agile firms capable of supporting APHIS’s decentralized operational needs. She consistently prioritizes socioeconomic programs that enhance competition and innovation among small businesses, particularly those with aviation, environmental, or laboratory technical expertise. Barbosa’s procurement focus centers on NAICS codes related to air transportation support (488190), nonscheduled air operations (481219), and aircraft manufacturing (336411), alongside specialized procurements in agricultural chemical manufacturing (325320) and analytical instrument production (334516). Her domain expertise lies in acquiring equipment and services that enable field diagnostics, pest detection, and biocontainment—critical to APHIS’s mission of safeguarding national agricultural health.