Pandemic Influenza Preparedness 2013-2016

The Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response awarded a Master IDIQ on September 30, 2013, to acquire ancillary medical materials—needles, syringes, combination needle-syringe units, and isopropyl alcohol prep pads—from manufacturers to support vaccine administration during pandemic influenza events. Ordering closed on June 6, 2018, and the vehicle is no longer active.

The vehicle's ordering window has been closed for over eight years. All eight task orders issued under the vehicle awarded between September 2013 and September 2016, with consistent two-orders-per-year activity through 2016. The most recent delivery order completed in September 2017. The combined potential value of all task orders totals $175 thousand, fully obligated across all awards.

Scope centered on inventory acquisition and storage of integrated needle and syringe units in various configurations. Task orders explicitly referenced purchasing 60,000-unit quantities and storage, with firm fixed pricing on all awards. Performance was structured to enable HHS/ASPR/BARDA to coordinate long-term pandemic preparedness inventories and align medical device supply with vaccine manufacturing capacity.

Competition was split evenly between two primes: Becton, Dickinson And Co (4 orders, $89 thousand combined potential value) and Covidien Sales LLC (4 orders, $86 thousand combined potential value). No set-asides were used; all awards were unrestricted. The single customer was HHS/ASPR, placing all eight orders.

Task order values clustered in the $16,000–$28,000 range, all firm fixed price. Completion dates were short-duration, typically three to twelve months from award. This vehicle represents a closed, fully-obligated procurement that achieved its pandemic preparedness inventory objectives during its five-year active ordering period and is not available for new work.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded a Master IDIQ for the acquisition of ancillary materials (needles, syringes, and combination units, isopropyl alcohol prep pads) from medical/surgical device manufacturers to meet the vaccine administration needs of the American public during a pandemic influenza event. To ensure coverage, manufacturers are expected to acquire, maintain and rotate inventories of integrated needle and syringe units of various types for pandemic preparedness. The management of these materials will be coordinated and integrated by HHS/ASPR/BARDA to provide long-term solutions that address and satisfy the vaccine administration requirements during pandemic influenza events and account for recent technology advances in vaccine manufacturing where the ability to produce influenza vaccines may outstrip the capability of medical/surgical manufacturers to maintain pace with sufficient needle/syringe units.