AGILE MANUFACTURING GAINS AGAINST COVID
I
n the early months of 2020, as the U.S. government and the nation watched with trepidation as COVID-19 arrived on our shores, “testing” became the buzzword that was at the forefront of everyone’s minds. Unfortunately, the need
to test so many people in such a short period of time severely impacted national stockpiles of testing supplies. Supply manu- facturers, many of which were abroad, could either not keep up with demand, or could not deliver products because of shipping issues. Among the maelstrom of response activities, Lt. Col. John Nuckols and the Defense Assisted Acquisition (DA2) screening and diagnostics team executed some of the most complex and nuanced medical acquisition efforts both inside and outside of the United States, with vendors who traditionally have not done business with the U.S. government.
TESTING, TESTING, TESTING Early in the pandemic, one of the main issues hindering response efforts concerned overcoming the shortage of specialized spec- imen collection swabs. From the start, Nuckols and the DA2 screening and diagnostics team were aggressive in their efforts to increase U.S.-based swab production. Initially, they were able to increase the production rate from a baseline of 14.5 million swabs per month (pre-COVID-19) to the potential to produce approxi- mately 147 million swabs per month. However, as the pandemic
continued and additional waves of increased infection occurred, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) real- ized the national requirement was actually closer to 300 million swabs per month. Performing an exhaustive market search of swab manufacturers across the U.S., the DA2 screening and diagnostics team identified opportunities to increase U.S.-based production of specimen collection swabs optimal for COVID-19 testing, which are expected to provide approximately 350 million swabs per month. Tis represented a 24-fold monthly increase in the specialized swabs, which are essential to the performance of all U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) emergency use authorization COVID-19 tests in the U.S.
Te team also invested in the growth of test kit manufacturing on behalf of the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Devel- opment Authority. Starting with the clinical laboratory, where most diagnostic tests before and during the pandemic have been performed, the team managed six investments in the expansion of diagnostic test kits and their associated analyzer platforms, expected to increase test kit production by 64 million tests per month. Next, they shifted their focus from laboratory-based test- ing to the tests performed at the point of care, such as in clinics
WHAT’S DA2?
The Defense Assisted Acquisition Cell, nested within the Joint Rapid Acquisition Cell in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, is poised to rapidly respond to the nation’s most urgent acquisition needs in current and future national emer- gencies. It has assumed the interagency efforts for COVID-19 medical resource acquisition.
Leveraging acquisition and subject matter experts from across DOD to meet urgent U.S. government acquisition requirements, it provides policy and over- sight to drive awareness and unity of effort.
Following DOD’s acquisition support to the Depart- ment of Health and Human Services and the Federal Emergency Management Agency during the COVID-19 pandemic, the undersecretary of defense for acqui- sition and sustainment (USD(A&S)) recognized the
need to ensure acquisition assistance. Accordingly, the USD (A&S) established the Defense Assisted Acquisition Cell on Oct. 13, 2020. Built on the urgent capability acquisition that the Joint Rapid Acquisition Cell executes on behalf of DOD during wartime, the DA2 Cell acquires goods and services as rapidly and effectively as possible for the federal government in support of the American public. The Defense Assisted Acquisition Cell provides acquisition assistance when the magnitude of the government’s requirements overwhelms the lead response agencies, leveraging the Economy Act to provide acquisition assistance on behalf of and in coordination with interagency partners.
(SOURCE: Defense Assisted Acquisition Cell (DA2) website,
https://www.acq.osd.mil/asda/jrac/da2/ index.html)
80
Army AL&T Magazine
Fall 2021
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