COVID buys hit $42M in a week

      The federal government spent $41.6 million on COVID-19-related supplies and services from March 13-19, according to an analysis by Public Spend Forum.

      The top agencies were VA, State and Coast Guard, which accounted for three-quarters of the total.

      Medical and surgical equipment and supplies comprised $13 million, or 32% of the total; Lab equipment, $7.8 million, or 19%; Hospital clothing, $5.2 million, or 13% and Hospital furniture and equipment and supplies, $3.8 million, or 9%, among other items.

      Other categories included transportation/ambulance; biomedical research and development; lab testing; IT central processing units; and housekeeping/janitorial.

      Federal contracts for goods and services related to the nationwide coronavirus emergency are expected to boom, with a focus on medical research; medical items including masks, gowns, swabs and ventilators; and on cleaning services, medical lodging and teleworking services.

      However, small businesses may have to compete with large firms to capture the work.

      Searches of beta.SAM.gov on March 23 with the keywords “COVID-19” and “coronavirus” found no active small business set-aside opportunities related to the outbreak. But there were a number of full and open competition opportunities.

      Spending is expected to go much higher with the $8.3 billion coronavirus emergency supply bill now in effect and billions more dollars coming for coronavirus aid.

      The trend is upward. A report from BuzzFeed News found that COVID-19 and coronavirus federal spending was $7.5 million from Jan. 1 to March 16.

      The bulk of that spending, $5.8 million, was through the Health and Human Services Dept.

      Those amounts are higher than any using the “coronavirus” keyword for the previous 10 years, BuzzFeed said.

More Information:
Access the BuzzFeed story Sheet at: https://bit.ly/2Uuj383

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