Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

The Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is a sub-agency of USDA that procures contracts and administers grants to enforce federal plant and animal health regulations, manage wildlife damage, and support agricultural and environmental protection across the United States. APHIS operates through multiple program offices including Wildlife Services, Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ), and diagnostic laboratories, each with distinct acquisition footprints.

APHIS maintains a large contract portfolio spanning 46,098 total awards since 1980, with combined potential value of $4.79 billion and $4.6 billion in obligated dollars. Contract volume has declined modestly: 1,450 awards in 2023, 1,493 in 2024, 1,099 in 2025, 842 in 2026, and one award recorded so far in 2027. Among the top five primes over the last five years by award count, New TECH Solutions, Inc. (194 awards, $15.3 million potential value), Composting SME, LLC (190 awards, $8.7 million), and Life Technologies Corporation (120 awards, $16.4 million) lead; by combined potential value, Colossal Contracting LLC ($21.1 million across 54 awards), Life Technologies ($16.4 million), and New TECH Solutions ($15.3 million) rank first. Competitive concentration is highly fragmented—the top five primes hold only 11 percent of recent awards by count and 2 percent by combined potential value across 8,294 distinct prime contractors. Eighty-five percent of awards carry no set-aside designation; small-business set-asides account for 12 percent, with 8(a) sole-source awards at 2 percent and remaining designations under 1 percent each.

APHIS also funds grants at scale, having awarded 25,267 total grants since 1999 with $8.48 billion in combined federal dollars obligated and $10.51 billion including non-federal cost-share. Grant volume has trended downward: 1,253 awards in 2022, 1,323 in 2023, 1,246 in 2024, 1,033 in 2025, and 808 in 2026. Cooperative Agreements dominate the assistance mix at 98 percent of awards; Project Grants comprise 2 percent. Among recent top recipients by award count, California Department of Food & Agriculture leads with 159 awards and $302.7 million in federal dollars obligated, followed by North Carolina State University (142 awards, $39.3 million) and State of Washington Department of Agriculture (124 awards, $18.7 million). By federal dollars obligated, California ($302.7 million), Colorado State University ($92.6 million), and Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services ($70.5 million) rank first. Grant recipient concentration is fragmented—the top five recipients account for only 12 percent of recent awards by count and 7 percent of federal dollars across 967 distinct recipients.

Recent contract opportunities reflect APHIS's operational breadth: solicitations for facility leasing (1,950–2,150 square feet office/warehouse in Pasco, Washington; 2,300–2,722 square feet office/light industrial space in Cocoa, Florida), animal health diagnostics (Dectomax 500 ml injectable solution for disease testing; Foot and Mouth Disease vaccine antigen concentrate and finished vaccine), wildlife management equipment and services (semi-automatic rifles for feral swine control; fully trained Border Collies for Hawaiian goose hazing; airboat for marsh access in Louisiana), infrastructure and repair (roof replacement in Wilmington, North Carolina; office furniture in Fresno, California), and scientific supplies (molecular transport media tubes for HPAI testing; HDPE bird netting; laser cleaning systems). Most recent opportunities posted in September and October 2026 carry Total Small Business set-asides; two pre-solicitation notices for facility leasing and market-research requests for Brown Tree Snake consulting and deer carcass processing remain in sources-sought phases.

Grant opportunities posted through August 2026 emphasize agricultural and natural-resource protection. APHIS Wildlife Services National Wildlife Research Center anticipates $413,380 in Cooperative Agreement funding to support spatial ecology and chronic wasting disease dynamics research in Northern Colorado mule and white-tailed deer, with applications limited to higher education institutions, state governments, and federally recognized tribal governments. APHIS Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) is soliciting cooperative-agreement and grant proposals under the National Clean Plant Network (NCPN) program and the Plant Pest and Disease Management and Disaster Prevention Program (PPDMDPP), with at least $10 million available for NCPN and up to $90 million (at least $73 million for PPDMDPP) for FY 2027; eligible applicants include state departments of agriculture, universities, non-profits, federal and tribal agencies, and industry. Due dates for these grants range from late August through October 2026.

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service protects and promotes U.S. agricultural health, regulates genetically engineered organisms, administers the Animal Welfare Act, and manages wildlife damage.