Department Of Agriculture Pennsylvania

Department Of Agriculture Pennsylvania, a U.S. state government entity headquartered in Harrisburg and a child agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, operates as a prime recipient of federal grants and a prime contractor on federal delivery orders, delivering animal health laboratory testing services, food safety inspections, plant disease surveillance, and food assistance administration to USDA agencies and the FDA. The Department holds no SBA designations and competes on full-and-open federal procurements.

The Department's federal footprint centers on animal and plant health diagnostics and regulatory operations. APHIS Veterinary Services dominates the prime contract portfolio: the Department holds a $20 million Indefinite Delivery Contract (IDC 12639521D0058) awarded September 1, 2021, running through August 31, 2026, under which it performs National Animal Health Laboratory Network diagnostic testing. Representative delivery orders include a $300,000 firm fixed-price task for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) testing (April 2026), a $60,000 order for scrapie testing (May 2026), and a $75,000 order for HPAI cattle emerging-event response testing in Ames, Iowa (March 2026). The Department also performs work under subordinate APHIS BPAs and against individual task orders from USDA's Marketing and Regulatory Programs Business Services (25 awards, $21.5 million combined potential value) for HPAI and wildlife-services diagnostic testing. The FDA awarded the Department a $1.17 million definitive contract for human food inspection services in Harrisburg running through March 2027. Across all sources, the Department has received 800 prime awards since 2001, with 799 classified as prime and one as a sub-award.

Customer concentration reflects a narrow federal base. APHIS Veterinary Services (52 awards, $42 million combined potential value) and APHIS Marketing and Regulatory Programs Business Services (25 awards, $21.5 million) together account for 77 awards and $63.5 million—88 percent of the Department's total potential value. The Food and Drug Administration (21 awards, $6.9 million) and USDA's Food and Nutrition Service and Agricultural Marketing Service (combined 222 awards) round out the active federal customer set. The Department serves 32 federal agencies overall but derives nearly all dollar value from animal health and food safety work.

The Department's recent activity shows stability with modest year-over-year volume: 44 awards in 2022, 52 in 2023, 44 in 2024, 44 in 2025, and 18 through mid-2026. Sixty-five awards (combined potential value $2.3 million) face completion within the next twenty-four months, creating recompete exposure concentrated in APHIS animal health and USDA food assistance program vehicles. The Department obligated $504.4 million across its award portfolio—seven times the combined potential value figure—indicating deep execution against standing cooperative agreements and formula grants that disburse federal funds to support state nutrition programs, food distribution, and agricultural protection initiatives.

The Department's primary capability portfolio spans veterinary laboratory diagnostics (HPAI, scrapie, antimicrobial resistance, and foreign animal disease testing at dual facilities in Harrisburg and Ames, Iowa), human and animal food inspection and testing under FSMA and FDA oversight, invasive pest and plant disease surveying and early detection for APHIS, animal disease traceability administration, and food assistance program management. Grant work includes cooperative agreements with APHIS for spotted lanternfly canine detection teams, exotic plant pest surveillance, and emerald ash borer biological control support; FDA cooperative agreements for laboratory capacity building and manufactured food regulatory program standards maintenance; and USDA Food and Nutrition Service formula grants administering TEFAP, SNAP, WIC, and CSFP programs serving low-income populations statewide. The Department operates as the designated state administering agency for multiple USDA nutrition programs and maintains ISO 17025:2017 accreditation for its laboratory services.