On August 4, the Department of Defense’s (DOD) Joint Acquisition Task Force (JATF), in support of the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Strategic National Stockpile (SNS), awarded $104 million in contracts to procure syringes and safety needles, enabling the nationwide administration of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved COVID-19 vaccine, once one is available.
The syringes and safety needles are critical to the nation’s COVID-19 vaccination strategy, providing a total of 500 million safety syringes over a 12-month period, with more than 134 million of the total number delivered by the end of 2020.
The syringes and safety needles will be placed into the SNS so they will be readily available to quickly and efficiently vaccinate the U.S. population once a safe and efficacious COVID-19 vaccine is developed. This procurement is the latest in a series of recent contracts highlighting a collaborative “whole-of-government” approach in response to the COVID-19 threat.
The Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND) partnered with HHS and the Army Contracting Command – Aberdeen Proving Ground (ACC-APG), to select and award contracts to six companies: Duopross Meditech Corporation ($48 million), Cardinal Health Inc. ($15 million), Gold Coast Medical Supply, LP ($14 million), HTL STREFA Inc. ($12 million), Quality Impact, Inc. ($9 million), and Medline Industries, Inc. ($6 million). The companies represent a mix of large and small medical product manufacturers and distributors.
“This effort demonstrates skillful collaboration between the interagency and our industry partners, and moves the nation farther forward in its fight against COVID-19,” said Joint Program Executive Officer for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense, Douglas Bryce.
“Immediate procurement and prepositioning of syringes will enable rapid vaccination of the U.S. population once an FDA-approved vaccine becomes available. We are pleased to be part of this unprecedented and critical undertaking.”
This CARES Act funded effort is part of the ongoing collaboration between DOD and HHS to support replenishment of the SNS with critical medical resources.
