Bernice Nelson

Bernice Nelson serves as a key procurement professional within the CDC Office of Acquisition Services, supporting the agency’s mission to safeguard public health through strategic acquisition of critical scientific and operational resources. She manages a portfolio of contracts focused on laboratory diagnostics, biomedical research tools, and data infrastructure essential for disease surveillance and rapid response. Her work directly enables the CDC’s ability to deploy cutting-edge diagnostics, maintain high-capacity public health laboratories, and ensure timely access to epidemiological analytics platforms. She specializes in complex, mission-critical procurements requiring technical rigor, regulatory compliance, and agile contract execution. Nelson maintains sustained relationships with leading providers in the public health and life sciences sectors, including General Dynamics Information Technology, Cepheid, MRIGLOBAL, GlaxoSmithKline, and the New York City Health & Hospitals Corporation. These partnerships reflect a focus on high-reliability vendors capable of delivering FDA-cleared diagnostic systems, biosafety-compliant research services, and scalable data integration solutions. Her contracting approach emphasizes performance-based outcomes, technical validation, and long-term operational support, fostering collaborative vendor engagement aligned with CDC’s scientific standards. A defining feature of Nelson’s procurement strategy is her exclusive use of Total Small Business Set-Aside authorities under FAR 19.5, ensuring that 100% of her acquisitions are reserved for small businesses. This reflects a deep institutional commitment to socioeconomic equity and capacity-building within the public health supply chain. She consistently prioritizes small disadvantaged businesses, women-owned firms, and other HUBZone and SDVOSB-eligible entities, empowering niche innovators to contribute to national health security. Her primary procurement focus is on NAICS 541350, Building Inspection Services, which in the CDC context encompasses specialized technical services for biosafety laboratory compliance, environmental monitoring, and facility certification critical to infectious disease research environments. This specialization underscores her expertise in procuring high-stakes, regulated technical services that ensure the integrity of public health infrastructure.