Leona Cantu

Leona Cantu serves as a key procurement professional within the Navajo Area Indian Health Service, supporting the agency’s mission to deliver equitable, culturally competent healthcare to Indigenous communities across the Navajo Nation. She manages a diverse portfolio of acquisitions focused on temporary clinical staffing and ambulatory health services, ensuring sustainable workforce capacity and operational readiness in remote and underserved regions. Her work directly enables the delivery of preventive care, dental services, surgical support, and diagnostic capabilities by securing essential human capital and non-clinical health support systems critical to the agency’s day-to-day function. Cantu maintains a consistent working relationship with Regency Consulting Inc., a primary vendor providing specialized temporary health services and operational support. Her contracting approach emphasizes long-term, performance-based partnerships with vendors capable of deploying qualified personnel to meet fluctuating clinical demands across multiple tribal health facilities. These relationships are structured to ensure compliance with federal health service standards and cultural competency requirements unique to Native American communities. A strong advocate for Indigenous economic development, Cantu prioritizes the Buy Indian Set-Aside authority, directing approximately 80% of her acquisitions to eligible Native-owned businesses and tribally controlled organizations. This deliberate focus reflects the Indian Health Service’s statutory mandate to promote self-determination and tribal sovereignty through targeted socioeconomic contracting. The remaining 20% of awards are issued under open competition when specific expertise or capacity is not available through set-aside channels. Her procurement activity is concentrated in NAICS 561320 (Temporary Help Services), reflecting her central role in staffing clinical and administrative roles, and NAICS 621999 (All Other Miscellaneous Ambulatory Health Care Services), encompassing specialized outreach, mobile clinics, and community health support functions. Cantu’s expertise lies in securing flexible, scalable workforce solutions that align with the dynamic needs of tribal health systems operating in geographically isolated areas.