Over-the-counter COVID-19 test kits focus of $647 million in DoD contracts

Working in concert with the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Defense (DoD) last week awarded four contracts valued at a total of $647 million for the purchase of over-the-counter COVID-19 test kits.

Funded by the American Rescue Plan Act, these efforts are meant to build up the nation’s supply of critical medical resources. Among the beneficiaries of this will be OraSure Technologies, Quidel Corp., Abbott Rapid DX North America LLC and Intrivo Holdings Corp.

The largest contract was awarded to Quidel, for $284.2 million worth of supplies — approximately 25.6 million kits. Another $205.2 million was awarded to OraSure for the purchase of 20.6 million test kits. Some 10 million tests were purchased from Intrivo for $109.8 million. The remaining $47.8 million was used to purchase 3.8 million tests from Abbott.

In all cases, deliveries will begin in October 2021 and continue until September 2022.