Christine Frate

Christine Frate serves as a key procurement lead within the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health, where she manages complex research and technical acquisitions aligned with NIDA’s mission to advance scientific understanding of substance use disorders. She oversees the solicitation and award of contracts supporting cutting-edge biomedical research, analytical instrumentation, and translational science initiatives, ensuring alignment with federal acquisition regulations and strategic research priorities. Her work bridges laboratory innovation and public health impact, facilitating the procurement of services and equipment critical to neurobiological and behavioral studies. Frate maintains consistent relationships with leading academic and research institutions, including The McLean Hospital Corporation, the University of Maryland, Baltimore, the University of Miami, the University of Pittsburgh, and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. These partnerships typically involve cooperative research agreements, contract research services, and specialized laboratory support, reflecting a preference for high-caliber academic collaborators with proven expertise in addiction science and clinical translation. Her contracting approach emphasizes rigorous scientific merit, institutional capacity, and compliance with NIH grant and contract standards. Her procurement portfolio is overwhelmingly dominated by non-set-aside awards, with 89.7% of contracts awarded without socioeconomic preferences, indicating a primary focus on technical capability over socioeconomic targeting. However, she consistently allocates approximately 9.3% of awards to total small business set-asides under FAR 19.5, demonstrating measured but intentional support for small business participation in high-complexity research environments. Frate’s primary procurement focus lies in NAICS 334516 (analytical laboratory instrument manufacturing), supporting advanced neuroimaging and biochemical analysis systems, followed by NAICS 541714 (biotechnology R&D) and 541690 (scientific consulting). She routinely acquires specialized equipment, data analytics platforms, and expert technical services essential to addiction research, reflecting deep domain expertise in neuropharmacology, behavioral assessment tools, and translational biomedical technology.