Federal agencies spent almost $1 billion on contracts related to the COVID-19 coronavirus in the past week, boosting total spend to $2.3 billion in coronavirus spending since February, according to data obtained today from the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS).
Last week, the FPDS data showed coronavirus-related spending of $1.4 billion in February and March.
According to the latest data, more than 65 Federal agencies and departments made over 2,250 purchases attributed to COVID-19 since February – about a thousand more transactions since last week.
The largest COVID-19 related contract to date is a $456 million supplemental contract between Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. and the Office of Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). That purchase is for research and development in biotechnology.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has accounted for more than 1,000 transactions, totaling over $385 million – and more than doubling its total spend since last week. The department made nine purchases of over $10 million related to COVID-19; four of those were IT-related buys, and another four were related to health equipment and supplies. One VA contract of $24 million is for the construction of portable buildings in Oregon for an Office of Emergency Management Alternate Patient Care Site.
Government-wide, more than 100 COVID-19 contracts in March relate to “information technology.” VA made more than 25 of those, and HHS accounted for at least 20. The Department of the Interior and the State Department both inked more than 15 IT-related contracts.
