STATE SPENDING MILLIONS ON MASKS
Virginia is buying more personal protective equipment than first anticipated or predicted
Virginia is on track to spend far more on buying masks, gloves, gowns and face shields than state officials had expected when they stepped into the global scramble for personal protective equipment.
But the state is getting more PPE, too.
So far, the state’s orders exceed $44 million under a contract with a small Norfolk company that was originally expected to cost $27 million, according to a Daily Press review of invoices obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. The state also spent more than $2 million to ship some of the equipment to Virginia.
“Acquiring PPE continues to be challenging as we still find ourselves competing for resources,” Brian Moran, Virginia secretary of public safety said in an email.
He said the state’s monitoring of orders matches the Daily Press tally of invoiced items. The state has obligated $34 million for the items and has already paid $27 million, Moran said. He said the state has capped payments under the contract to $40 million.
The invoices describe orders amounting to roughly 80% more KN-95 masks than the March 31 contract with Norfolk based
Northfield Medical Manufacturing originally detailed. The total comes to more than 4 million masks.
The invoices list increases in the number of three-ply surgical masks, face shields and gowns as well.
Fierce worldwide competition for supplies at one point prompted the state to charter two planes last month, at total cost of $2.45 million, to bring 2.3 million N-95 masks, 2.25 million KN95 masks, 3.5 million surgical masks, 2 million gloves, 600,000 gowns and 400,000 face shields from China to Dulles International Airport, the records show.
Nailing down a stable price and reliable delivery times “is more challenging than ever as we are seeing some pricing jump on certain SKUs multiple times in one day,” Northfield managing partner Carter Smith emailed the state a week after the contract was signed.
In the first week of the contract, an order for 3.9 million
gloves, paid for in full, was seized by authorities in Wuhan, China, for domestic use after packaging marked “designed for medical use,” Smith noted. The manufacturer offered to replace the gloves the following week, but with packaging that did not mention medical use.
Smith said manufacturers were demanding upfront payment for N-95 masks with no guaranteed delivery schedule, noting that one its deposits for an order of 250,000 masks was rejected because by the time the funds were wired, price of masks had jumped another 25%.
Prices for KN-95 masks came in 19% above what the state and Northfield had estimated, but despite a scare when prices for one type of gown jumped to $10, Northfield’s suggestion to hold off purchases ended up saving the state money. The price for those gowns had dropped below the estimate when Northfield put the state order in and the company passed on the savings to the state.
The records show the state paid more than $10 million in deposits on items before they were shipped — in some cases for as much as 70% of the purchase price — in addition to prepaying for the two charter flights in May.
Some ordered items are still en route, Moran said.
“The amounts we have ordered are greater than the actual amounts received to-date as items continue to be on back order and/or delayed,” he said.
The invoices do not say whether an listed item is a revision of an earlier order, so the Daily Press tally only includes orders that can be distinguished by their price and shipment details. Requests for clarification from Moran, the Virginia Department of Emergency Management and Northfield went unanswered.
Meanwhile, the need for protective equipment remains, Moran said.
“Virginia emergency support team logistics staff is actively looking for opportunities to identify vendors with goods that meet Federal standards to support the hospital, longterm health, and state agencies,” Moran said.