Leslie F. Simpson

Leslie F. Simpson serves as a Contracting Officer for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (HDTRA1), where she leads the acquisition of critical technical capabilities to counter weapons of mass destruction and emerging national security threats. In this role, she manages the full lifecycle of complex procurements, from requirements validation and market research to contract award and performance oversight, ensuring alignment with the agency’s mission to develop advanced detection, deterrence, and neutralization systems. Her portfolio primarily consists of custom software development and analytical services supporting threat intelligence, forensic analysis, and operational support platforms. Simpson maintains longstanding partnerships with leading technical contractors including TECHTRANS INTERNATIONAL INC, BATTELLE MEMORIAL INSTITUTE, AERIS LLC, APPLIED RESEARCH ASSOCIATES, INC., and AMAZON WEB SERVICES, INC. These relationships reflect a preference for high-capacity, mission-critical vendors with proven expertise in defense science, systems integration, and cloud-based analytical infrastructure. Her contracting approach emphasizes performance-based outcomes, rigorous technical evaluation, and sustained collaboration with vendors capable of delivering scalable, secure, and rapidly deployable solutions under dynamic threat environments. Her procurement activity is exclusively conducted under full and open competition, with no set-asides utilized in recent acquisitions. This reflects a strategic focus on accessing the broadest possible pool of technical expertise rather than socioeconomic preferences, prioritizing mission effectiveness and capability readiness over socioeconomic categorization. Simpson’s acquisitions are overwhelmingly concentrated under NAICS 541511 (Custom Computer Programming Services), indicating a deep specialization in software development, data analytics, and algorithmic modeling for defense applications. She routinely procures tailored cyber-enabled tools, simulation platforms, and AI-driven threat assessment systems, demonstrating strong domain expertise in secure computing environments, multi-source intelligence fusion, and high-performance computing architectures essential to countering chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive threats.