The Department of Defense has spent one-third of its CARES Act and Defense Production Act money to address the coronavirus pandemic, but state testing still lags far behind, experts indicate.
The more than $160 million spent on testing expansion by the DOD since the March 27 law went into effect has boosted private manufacturing capability and funneled testing kits and components to states across the country.
“Boosting testing capacity is a DPA priority,” Pentagon spokeswoman Jessica Maxwell told the Washington Examiner, describing spending from a $1 billion allocation by Congress.
“The DOD is focused on not only resolving critical medical resource shortages in end-items but also on shoring [up] second- and third-tier supply chain items,” Maxwell added.
Nevertheless, the Harvard Global Health Institute indicates the testing investment has not been enough for most states to catch up.
The Harvard group identifies just five states that meet its target for “suppression,” or achieving at or near zero new cases. Another 16 states have met the group’s target for “mitigation,” an effort to reduce the spread of the virus, according to a chart that is updated daily with total state testing capacity and targets for reducing the contagion’s spread.
Only Vermont, Connecticut, Montana, Alaska, and Hawaii meet the study’s suppression target.
The Harvard group’s director, Dr. Ashish Jha, recently sounded the alarm after observing a decrease in testing, especially in the worst-hit states.
The White House coronavirus task force jumped out to silence that alarm.
“Just about everything he said was the opposite of what reality is,” Adm. Brett Giroir of the task force told CNN on Aug. 14.
“We’re never going to be satisfied with testing. We need to do more,” he said. “There is no physical way to do 5 million tests per day in this country.”
Giroir said the administration had “definitely” exhausted all means to obtain more testing supplies and was investing heavily in new technology and point-of-care testing.
“We continually use DPA and investments every day,” he said. “Everything that can possibly be done has been done.”
Using DPA to fight COVID-19
The so-called DPA Title III authority allows the DOD to inject money into private companies to ramp up domestic production capacity and sign big contracts based on previous agreements.
Among the DOD’s early uses of the DPA were buys of lifesaving ventilators, personal protective equipment, and N95 masks.
In recent months, the DOD has awarded contracts through the DPA and other mechanisms to companies that produce coronavirus test kits.
A $51 million award to Puritan Medical Products increased swab production. Another $3.1 million to BioFire Defense will increase tests for both deployed military personnel and U.S. diplomats serving overseas.
In partnerships with the Department of Health and Human Services, the DOD also made awards to BD Veritor and Hologic to expand testing capacity.
“We have awarded a total of $162M in testing capacity expansion to support DoD and national requirements,” Maxwell said in an email.
The BioFire investment will boost production capacity from 30,000 tests per month to 100,000 tests per month starting in September.
DOD Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition Sustainment Ellen Lord told members of the media on Aug. 20 that in total, $35 million has been spent to increase domestic manufacturing of COVID-19 testing kits by 10 million per month by February 2021.
That’s still eight months from now, when the government believes an approved vaccine will likely be in distribution to tens of millions of people.
In all, as of Aug. 13, the DOD had awarded $961 million from its $1 billion in DPA Title III CARES Act funding.
Some $213 million has been spent on health resources. Another $100 million was used for a loan program focused on driving the production of pharmaceuticals, vaccines, testing supplies, and PPE. The remaining $648 million has been used to shore up the defense industrial base.
The Department of Health and Human Services funded another $414 million in purchases using DOD contracting partners to expand domestic production and reduce America’s reliance on overseas medical supplies that are used to fight the coronavirus.
The DOD effort is not limited to serving defense personnel needs, said the Pentagon.
“DOD and HHS continue to work together to identify opportunities to increase testing capacity for the whole-of-nation,” Maxwell wrote.
