The Department of Homeland Security’s independent government watchdog told a House panel on Friday that the Health and Human Services Department has “mismanaged” money and efforts to address a possible Ebola outbreak.
As a result, the agency may have wasted millions of dollars on some equipment and drugs, while not spending enough on other needs.
“DHS purchased much of the equipment and drugs without thinking through how these supplies would need to be replaced,” Homeland Security Inspector General John Roth said during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing.
A recent inspector general’s audit of DHS purchases shows the agency hasn’t conducted a needs assessment on funds dedicated to plan, train and prepare for a potential pandemic. Therefore “we could not determine the basis for DHS’ decisions regarding how much or what types of pandemic supplies to purchase, store or distribute,” he said.
The audit found, for example, that DHS has a stockpile of about 350,000 white coverall suits and 16 million surgical masks but hasn’t been been able to demonstrate how either fits into its pandemic preparedness plans.
And while the agency has a significant quantity of antiviral drugs, Roth said that “without a full understanding of the department’s needs in the event of a pandemic, we have no assurance that the quantity of drugs will be appropriate.”
The inspector general also found that drugs stored at multiple DHS sites weren’t being kept in a temperature-controlled environment. Because of this, the agency is recalling a “significant quantity” over concerns that the drugs’ safety and effectiveness may have been compromised.
“Drugs and equipment have gone missing, and conversely, our audit has found drugs in the DHS inventory that the department thought been destroyed,” Roth said.
Other examples of DHS mismanagement found in the audit include:
• A stock of pandemic protective equipment for use by Transportation Security Agency includes about 200,000 respirators that are beyond the five-year usability date guaranteed by the manufacturer.
• Eighty-four percent of hand sanitizer bottles stockpiled by DHS for pandemic purposes have expired — some by up to four years.
• The antiviral drugs DHS purchased are nearing the end of their effective life. While the agency is attempting to extend that shelf life of these drugs through an FDA testing program, Roth says the “results of that are not guaranteed.”
