Leah Thurman

Leah Thurman serves as a Contracting Officer for the 255-NETWORK Contract Office 15 (36C255) within the Department of Veterans Affairs, where she leads the acquisition of critical healthcare infrastructure and medical support systems essential to veteran care delivery. She manages a diverse portfolio of contracts spanning clinical equipment, facility modernization, and technical service systems, ensuring operational readiness and compliance with federal procurement standards. Her role is central to executing the agency’s mission of upgrading VA medical facilities and procuring life-sustaining diagnostic and surgical devices, often coordinating with engineering, clinical, and logistics stakeholders to align acquisitions with facility needs and regulatory requirements. Thurman maintains consistent working relationships with a core group of contractors including JETT’S SPECIALTY CONTRACTING, LLC, MCKENZIE CONSTRUCTION & SITE DEVELOPMENT LLC, HIGHLANDS DEVELOPMENT LLC, RISE COMPANIES, LLC, and MEDICONE MEDICAL RESPONSE OF TENNESSEE, INC. These partnerships reflect a preference for established vendors with demonstrated expertise in medical facility construction, specialized equipment fabrication, and mobile medical response services. Her contracting approach emphasizes performance-based outcomes, rigorous vendor evaluation, and long-term contract administration to ensure quality and reliability in mission-critical environments. Thurman’s procurement activity is entirely non-set-aside, with 100% of awards issued under full and open competition. While she does not prioritize socioeconomic set-asides such as 8(a), HUBZone, or SDVOSB programs, her process remains transparent and compliant with FAR guidelines, focusing on technical capability, past performance, and cost-effectiveness as primary evaluation criteria. Her primary NAICS focus includes 332999 for fabricated metal medical components, 621111 for physician office services, 621492 for kidney dialysis center support, and 333993 for packaging machinery used in medical supply logistics. This technical specialization reflects deep domain expertise in procuring both capital medical equipment and facility-integrated systems critical to VA’s outpatient and inpatient care delivery networks.