Eryk Hayden

Eryk Hayden supports the mission of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service through procurement activities centered on advanced diagnostic infrastructure at the VS Database Ames, Iowa. While his formal title is not specified, his role involves managing acquisitions critical to national animal health security, particularly those enabling rapid detection and response to high-consequence foreign animal diseases such as African Swine Fever and Classical Swine Fever. He oversees the procurement of specialized laboratory equipment, biosafety-grade computing systems, and precision diagnostic instrumentation essential to the agency’s surveillance and containment operations. His contracting patterns reflect a strong emphasis on small business participation, with 100% of acquisitions designated as total small business set-asides under FAR 19.5. This consistent preference underscores a strategic commitment to fostering innovation and capacity within the small business ecosystem, particularly among firms certified under socioeconomic programs such as 8(a), HUBZone, and SDVOSB. Eryk’s procurement approach prioritizes vendors with proven expertise in regulated bioscience environments and compliance with USDA and CDC biosafety standards. The primary NAICS classification driving his acquisitions is 334111 (Electronic Computer Manufacturing), indicating a technical focus on custom-built diagnostic computing systems, high-throughput sequencing platforms, and secure data acquisition hardware tailored for pathogen identification. These procurements support laboratory automation, real-time genomic analysis, and secure data transmission from field to national reference labs. His domain expertise lies at the intersection of veterinary diagnostics, bioinformatics infrastructure, and federal biosafety compliance, ensuring that procured technologies meet the stringent performance and security requirements of a high-containment research environment.