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The fledgling test-kit company sent plastic preforms that were intended for use in the manufacturing of soda bottles, not clinical laboratory specimen tubes

When is a specimen tube not a specimen tube? When it is a plastic tube made for creating soda bottles. And that may be exactly what the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) received after paying $7.3 million to a fledgling Florida-based company that won a multi-million-dollar no-bid contract from the federal government for COVID-19 clinical laboratory testing supplies, which FEMA then shipped nationwide to states that had requested the supplies.

FEMA signed the deal with Fillakit, LLC, on May 7, 2020, “just six days after the company was formed,” reported ProPublica, which went on to state that the shipment of unusable Fillakit specimen tubes contributed to delays in rolling out widespread COVID-19 testing in the US.

According to ProPublica, Fillakit supplied “preforms” that are designed to be expanded with heat and pressure into 2-liter soda bottles, not laboratory specimen tubes.

Michelle Forman, a spokesperson for the Association of Public Health Laboratories, told ProPublica one major flaw of the Fillakit tubes is their size. “They are an unusual shape, so they don’t fit racks,” she said, “and we are getting lots of pushback about how difficult it is to work with them from our clinical partners.”

Fillakit image shows the preform tube that is intended to be die-molded into a large soda bottle
The photo of the preform sent by Fillakit above is taken from a Fox23 news report that stated “FEMA sent the Washington State Department of Health nearly 300,000 plastic tubes. They thought they were getting test tubes for coronavirus testing, but instead, they received tiny plastic preforms that can be made into 2-liter soda bottles.” This photograph shows the preform tube that is intended to be die-molded into a large soda bottle. That is why the cap on the tube is appropriate for the tubes intended purpose as a soda bottle.  (Photo copyright: Alison Grande, KIRO7/Fox23.)

Fillakit Employees Describe ‘Unsanitary’ Working Conditions

Ex-employees of Fillakit told the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) the specimen tubes were being handled in unsanitary open-air conditions in a warehouse outside of Houston where the test kits were being assembled.

“There were up to 250 workers crowded in a small warehouse room, shoulder to shoulder … working off of fold-up tables with supplies placed on the floor and handled without gloves,” Teresa Bosworth Green told Community Impact (CI), which reported that Green worked at Fillakit from May 11-20.

“We were told that we would be filling and capping tubes that would be used for COVID testing,” Green told CI.

However, according to CI, Green “expressed concern about the lack of cleanliness and facemasks. Green brought her own mask, but workers were not initially provided any.”

Green told CI, “People were breathing and coughing right over the solution.”

In a letter to FEMA and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) after Michigan received more than 322,000 tubes of transport media manufactured by Fillakit, Democrat Senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters wrote, “Even if the tubes themselves were not unsuitable for testing purposes, the contamination risks inherent in such careless handling would cause serious concerns about the reliability of any tests conducted using these materials.”

On July 7, 2020, the Wall Street Journal reported that Fillakit had notified the Florida Secretary of State on June 26 that the company had been dissolved.

Kira Doyle, JD, owner/attorney at Kira Doyle Law in St. Petersburg, FL
Kira Doyle, JD (above), owner/attorney at Kira Doyle Law in St. Petersburg, Fla., who multiple media outlets listed as Fillakit’s manager, told the Tampa Bay Times that media portraits of the company have been unfair. In a series of emails, she said Fillakit was attempting to fill a void in the medical supply chain. “If you are interested in writing an article about empowered female business owners or entrepreneurs creating jobs and helping this great country during an unprecedented pandemic, Fillakit LLC, fits that profile,” Doyle wrote. (Photo copyright: Kira Doyle Law.)

Under Pressure, Feds Award Contracts for COVID-19 Test Supplies to Inexperienced Suppliers

Fillakit as just one example out of “more than 250 companies that got contracts worth more than $1 million without going through a fully competitive bidding process,” NPR reported.

“Government procurement experts say federal officials were trying to move quickly to deliver desperately needed personal protective equipment,” NPR continued. “But they question the need to turn to contractors who have never worked with the government before and lacked experience making or delivering the protective gear.”

Among those receiving contracts were companies with little to no experience in manufacturing clinical laboratory testing supplies, personal protective equipment (PPE), as well as others that had never worked in the medical field. One company imported vodka, while another was a school security consultant. Many of the contractors served as middlemen, securing PPE from Chinese manufacturers, which meant they often were “competing with federal agencies, state governments, and local health systems,” all of which were attempting to buy the same equipment in the global marketplace, NPR reported.

“Giving business to people who don’t have experience is something you don’t want to do in an emergency,” Joshua Schwartz, JD, a professor of Government Contracts Law and co-director of the Government Procurement Law Program at George Washington University School of Law, told NPR.

FEMA Defends Its Contracting Process

A ProPublica analysis of coronavirus contracts found that about 13% of total federal government pandemic spending went to first-time vendors. And in a follow-up article, ProPublica claimed, “many of the new contractors have no experience acquiring medical products.”

FEMA, however, maintains it pays for purchases only after they have been delivered to minimize potential for waste of taxpayer dollars. “FEMA does not enter into contracts unless it has reason to believe they will be successfully executed,” the agency told ProPublica.

The US’ lack of preparedness for the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in missteps and misspending as federal agencies struggle to provide hospitals, clinical laboratories, and healthcare providers with personal protective gear and test supplies, and to ramp up COVID-19 testing nationwide.

This is yet another instance where federal agencies appear to lack the competencies required to fulfill healthcare requirements with proven products that meet critical specifications. Meanwhile, in every community throughout the United States, independent medical laboratories and hospital-based laboratories are clamoring for adequate supplies of everything from collect swabs and viral transport media to reagents and cuvettes.

—Andrea Downing Peck

Related Information:

The Trump Administration Paid Millions for Test Tubes and Got Unusable Mini Soda Bottles

Conroe-Based Company Made Unusable COVID-19 Test Supplies Using $10-Million FEMA Grant

Covid-19 Test-Tube Firm Awarded U.S. Contract, Is Accused of Unsanitary Workplace

Coronavirus Test-Kit Maker Dissolves Amid Probes

Senators Stabenow and Peters Press Trump Administration for Answers on Rewarding an Unreliable Company to Produce Testing Supplies

How a St. Petersburg Company with No History in Medical Supplies Won a $10 million Coronavirus Contract

A Closer Look at Federal COVID Contractors Reveals Inexperience, Fraud Accusations and a Weapons Dealer Operating Out of Someone’s House

Tracking Federal Purchases to Fight the Coronavirus: Search Contract Descriptions, Companies and Agencies

Feds Spend Billions on COVID-19 Contracts, Often without Fully Competitive Bidding

FEMA: Federal Support to Expand National Testing Capabilities

Instead of Coronavirus Testing Supplies, FEMA Sent 300K Tiny Soda Bottles to Washington

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