Leah H Schultz

Leah Schultz supports the procurement mission of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) within the U.S. Department of Agriculture, managing contracts critical to safeguarding national agricultural biosecurity. She oversees acquisitions for technical services and infrastructure support essential to disease surveillance, diagnostic testing, and pest containment operations. Her portfolio typically includes maintenance, laboratory services, and specialized logistics contracts that enable APHIS to respond rapidly to biological threats and sustain operational readiness across field and laboratory environments. Schultz maintains consistent working relationships with a select group of contractors, including Aerospace & Commercial Technologies, LLC; Thorobred Aviation Maintenance, Inc.; Trace First Limited; and AR6 Construction & Engineering, LLC. These partnerships reflect a focus on niche technical capabilities—ranging from aviation maintenance for mobile surveillance units to specialized repair services for high-value diagnostic equipment. Her contracting approach prioritizes reliability, technical precision, and rapid response, favoring vendors with proven experience in federal biosecurity and environmental compliance environments. A strong advocate for small business participation, Schultz consistently structures acquisitions under the Small Business Set-Aside program (FAR 19.5), with approximately two-thirds of her awards designated for small businesses. Her contracting patterns demonstrate a deliberate commitment to socioeconomic inclusion, particularly leveraging general small business set-asides to broaden vendor participation while ensuring access to specialized capabilities. This approach aligns with APHIS’s broader mission to build resilient, decentralized supply chains for critical biosecurity functions. Her primary procurement focus centers on NAICS codes 811310 (commercial and industrial machinery repair), 541380 (testing laboratories), and 115310 (forestry support activities), reflecting a technical emphasis on equipment maintenance, pathogen detection services, and ecological monitoring support. She frequently procures laboratory instrumentation servicing, field diagnostic kits, and environmental response logistics—domains requiring strict adherence to federal biosafety and chain-of-custody protocols. Her expertise lies in bridging technical operational needs with compliant, scalable contracting solutions.