Marquita Smith

Marquita Smith serves as a key procurement professional within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, supporting the agency’s mission to safeguard public health through strategic acquisition of scientific, diagnostic, and laboratory infrastructure. She manages complex contracts for high-stakes public health technologies, including analytical instrumentation, in-vitro diagnostics, and laboratory services critical to disease surveillance and outbreak response. Her work directly enables CDC’s capacity to deploy rapid diagnostic tools, maintain national laboratory readiness, and integrate real-time data systems for emergency preparedness. She typically handles acquisitions governed by FAR Part 36 and Part 37, with a focus on scientific equipment, testing services, and IT-enabled laboratory management solutions. Smith maintains longstanding relationships with leading biopharmaceutical and medical technology contractors, including Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, GlaxoSmithKline LLC, Pfizer Inc., Sanofi Pasteur Inc., and McKesson Specialty Distribution LLC. These partnerships are primarily centered on the procurement of vaccines, diagnostic reagents, and specialized distribution systems essential to national immunization and biosurveillance programs. Her contracting approach emphasizes performance-based outcomes, technical compliance, and supply chain resilience, often involving long-term service agreements and delivery order mechanisms under multiple-award contracts. Her procurement portfolio reflects a strong preference for open competition, with 94.1% of awards issued without set-aside restrictions, indicating a focus on technical capability over socioeconomic categorization. While small business participation is limited to 5.9%—primarily through total small business set-asides under FAR 19.5—her approach prioritizes mission-critical performance and regulatory compliance over socioeconomic targets. Smith’s primary procurement focus lies in NAICS 334516 (analytical laboratory instrument manufacturing) and 541380 (testing laboratories and services), reflecting deep expertise in procuring next-generation sequencing platforms, PCR systems, and certified diagnostic testing infrastructure. She also routinely acquires computer facilities management services (541513) and in-vitro diagnostic substances (325413), underscoring her technical command over the full lifecycle of public health laboratory operations.