Reps. Pallone, DeGette question Trump officials on PPE oversight

U.S. Reps. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Diana DeGette (D-CO) are seeking answers from Trump Administration officials on how the federal government is overseeing suppliers of personal protective equipment (PPE), testing supplies, and other medical supplies.

The lawmakers cited recent reports that said health care providers and frontline workers continue to face PPE shortages, especially at hospitals and nursing homes.

“We write to express serious concerns regarding reports of health care providers and governments at all levels continuing to encounter challenges in reliably procuring vital medical supplies needed to combat COVID-19,” Pallone and DeGette wrote in a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, Attorney General William Barr, and Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary Chad Wolf. “We also want to better understand the extent to which the federal government is overseeing and coordinating these procurement activities.”

Pallone is chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee while DeGette chairs the House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.

“In the absence of a centralized coordination effort at the federal level, health care providers and governments at all levels—which may lack experience in procuring scarce goods in a chaotic global market—have been forced to compete against each other to secure the supplies they need,” Pallone and DeGette wrote.

They cited several examples, including Blue Flame Medical, a company that supplies ventilators, respirators, and other PPE that reportedly did not fulfill supply orders under the agreed upon terms. Also, New York State reportedly entered into an $86 million contract with a Silicon Valley engineer to supply over 1,400 ventilators, despite lacking experience in the medical supply field.

“These and other reports indicate that health care providers and governments at all levels have struggled, and may continue to struggle, to reliably secure medical supplies and effectively navigate supply chains in which the risk of error and fraud is dangerously high,” Pallone and DeGette continued.

The lawmakers are asking for answers to their questions on how the federal government is overseeing and facilitating the procurement of COVID-19 medical supplies by July 6.