GAO Reports on Federal COVID-19 Response, Reveals HHS Taking over Supply Chain

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report last month on the federal response to COVID-19 and the medical supply chain, among other topics. In the report, GAO noted that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is assuming responsibility for managing the medical supply chain, a task that has previously been shared by HHS and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, with support from the Department of Defense (DOD). Although significant efforts have been undertaken to increase testing across the country, GAO acknowledges that laboratory testing capacity has been constrained due to shortages in supplies and equipment, as well as increased demand for tests associated with emerging hotspots in disease transmission. These constraints have led to delays in the turnaround times for testing results.

GAO observed that shortages of certain types of personal protective equipment and testing supplies remain due to a supply chain with limited domestic production and high global demand. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and FEMA have both identified shortages, and officials from seven of the eight states GAO interviewed in July and August 2020 identified previous or ongoing shortages of testing supplies, including swabs, reagents, tubes, pipettes, and transport media. Delays in processing test results have multiple serious consequences, GAO noted, including delays in isolating those who test positive and tracing their contacts in a timely manner, which can in turn exacerbate outbreaks by allowing the virus to spread undetected. The GAO report outlined a series of recommendations to improve federal response efforts, including three specific to the medical supply chain:

• HHS, in coordination with FEMA, should immediately document roles and responsibilities for supply chain management functions transitioning to HHS, including continued support from other federal partners, to ensure sufficient resources exist to sustain and make the necessary progress in stabilizing the supply chain.

• HHS, in coordination with FEMA, should further develop and communicate to stakeholders plans outlining specific actions the federal government will take to help mitigate supply chain shortages for the remainder of the pandemic.
• HHS and FEMA—working with relevant stakeholders—should devise interim solutions, such as systems and guidance and dissemination of best practices, to help states enhance their ability to track the status of supply requests and plan for supply needs for the remainder of the COVID-19 pandemic response.

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