Leah H. Schultz

Leah H. Schultz serves as a key procurement professional within the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) at the Minneapolis, MN office, supporting the agency’s mission to safeguard U.S. agricultural systems from invasive pests and diseases. She manages a diverse portfolio of acquisitions focused on scientific instrumentation, diagnostic testing supplies, and biosecurity infrastructure, ensuring that APHIS maintains robust operational capacity for pathogen surveillance and containment. Her work directly enables field laboratories and inspection programs by securing mission-critical goods and services that support rapid response and regulatory compliance. While specific contractor names are not publicly available, Schultz consistently engages with a broad base of vendors specializing in analytical equipment, agricultural chemical formulations, and veterinary diagnostic services. Her procurement patterns reflect a preference for technically precise, standards-compliant solutions, often requiring adherence to federal biosafety and quality control protocols. She fosters partnerships with manufacturers and service providers capable of delivering calibrated instruments, specialized reagents, and laboratory support systems critical to APHIS’s scientific operations. Schultz demonstrates a strong commitment to small business participation, with 34.4% of her acquisitions structured as total small business set-asides under FAR 19.5. Her contracting patterns prioritize opportunities for small businesses without favoring specific socioeconomic categories such as 8(a), HUBZone, or SDVOSB, indicating a broad-based approach to fostering competition among qualified small firms. This aligns with APHIS’s broader goals of expanding vendor diversity in the agricultural biosecurity sector. Her primary procurement focus lies in NAICS 334516 (analytical laboratory instruments) and 325320 (agricultural chemical manufacturing), reflecting expertise in procuring precision diagnostic tools, pesticide testing kits, and laboratory consumables. She also supports veterinary services and specialized plastics manufacturing for containment systems, demonstrating deep familiarity with the technical demands of field-based biological surveillance and laboratory operations.