Rita Elaine Fish-Whitlock

Rita Fish-Whitlock serves as a key procurement professional within the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) at the Minneapolis office, supporting the agency’s mission to safeguard U.S. agricultural systems from biological threats. She manages a diverse portfolio of acquisitions focused on scientific infrastructure, laboratory support, aviation services, and specialized industrial supplies critical to biosecurity operations. Her work ensures timely procurement of mission-critical goods and services that enable surveillance, diagnostic testing, and containment programs across national and regional response networks. Fish-Whitlock maintains consistent partnerships with a select group of contractors, including Aerospace & Commercial Technologies, LLC for technical instrumentation, Thorobred Aviation Maintenance, Inc. for specialized aircraft maintenance supporting field surveillance, and AR6 Construction & Engineering, LLC for facility upgrades. Her contracting approach emphasizes reliability, compliance with federal specifications, and performance-based outcomes, fostering long-term vendor relationships with firms capable of meeting APHIS’s high standards for precision and biocontainment. She demonstrates a strong commitment to small business participation, with 65% of her awards structured as total small business set-asides under FAR 19.5, reflecting a deliberate strategy to engage economically disadvantaged and community-based vendors. While no other socioeconomic set-asides are dominant, her pattern consistently prioritizes small business inclusion as a core component of acquisition planning, aligning with USDA’s broader socioeconomic goals. Her procurement focus centers on NAICS codes 311211 (flour milling), 325180 (basic inorganic chemical manufacturing), and 323111 (commercial printing), indicating frequent acquisition of laboratory reagents, packaging materials, and technical documentation systems. She also procures specialized detergents and cleaning agents under 325611 and industrial maintenance services under 811219, underscoring her technical expertise in supporting biosafety protocols and field operations through precise, regulated supply chains.