States are bidding against each other and the federal government for important medical supplies — and it’s driving up prices – By Lauren Feiner (CNBC) / April 11 2020
- States are bidding against the federal government to buy personal protective equipment (PPE) for medical staff.
- Low supplies and the existence of multiple bidders has made it difficult for states to get enough protective equipment for medical staff.
- Experts interviewed for this article said the federal government could centralize procurement through FEMA to create more efficiency. Some governors have floated a buying consortium as an alternative.
As manufacturers struggle to keep up with the surging demand for masks, gloves and gowns for medical professionals, states are bidding against each other — and the federal government — for supplies.
The situation has slowed down states’ ability to purchase personal protective equipment (PPE) during a time of intense need, while also driving up costs.
“Everybody trying to purchase the same things is not an efficient way to do this,” said Casey Tingle, deputy director of the Louisiana Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. During past emergencies like Hurricane Katrina, the state has worked closely with regional officials for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and relied on the agency to procure supplies. But in an unprecedented situation that impacts not just Louisiana, but the entire country, the roadmap is murkier.
“There’s a real lack of clarity of whether or not the federal government will be able to push from their level down at least to our state,” Tingle said.
The problem comes in part from the federal government’s own dwindling supply. Louisiana has requested more than 10 million units of face shields, masks, gowns, coveralls, gloves, vents, hand sanitizers and thermometers from the Strategic National Stockpile for its hospitals and medical centers, according to records kept by the state, but as of April 3, it’s received only about 13% of its request.
A FEMA spokesperson said in a statement that the agency’s pandemic planning assumptions did not rely on the stockpile fulfilling all of the need on the state level and that “the federal government will exhaust all means to identify and attain medical and other supplies needed to combat the virus.”
Continue to article: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/09/why-states-and-the-federal-government-are-bidding-on-ppe.html
