The Department of Homeland Security has 350,000 white coveralls and 16 million surgical masks sitting in boxes with little notion of how many it might actually need in the event of a pandemic, the department’s inspector general has told Congress.
In addition, it has 4,184 bottles of hand sanitizer that have expired, some of them for more than four years, and 200,000 respirators that are beyond the manufacturer’s five-year guarantee of effectiveness, the inspector general found.
The findings were contained in a statement by Inspector General John Roth submitted last Friday to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. They arise from an audit of the Department of Homeland Security in August.
“DHS did not readily know how much protective equipment it had on hand or where the equipment was being stored,” Roth’s statement says. “The Department also cannot be assured that the protective equipment on hand is still effective.”
It continues, “DHS also did not keep records of the protective equipment it purchased and received, and it has not accurately accounted for how much protective equipment it currently has in stock.”
The audit was widely reported in September; Roth’s statement summarizing the findings was reported by Government Executive, a monthly magazine that updates its website daily with news and information of use to senior government managers.
The inspector general’s audit also found that DHS’ Office of Health Affairs bought hundreds of thousands of doses of antiviral drugs without first determining how many it needed.
“In fiscal year 2009, OHA added approximately 240,000 courses of antiviral drugs to the Department’s stockpile, again without first determining the department’s pandemic needs. Only after its initial purchases did OHA prepare an acquisition management plan for antiviral drugs, which estimated its requirements, but it did not follow this plan.
“Instead, OHA acted on a senior-level decision to cover the DHS workforce in the event of a pandemic, but it did not provide any documentation demonstrating how the current stockpile of about 300,000 courses aligned with its pandemic needs.”
The August audit notes that 192,272 doses of Tamiflu and 103,734 doses of Relenza, both flu drugs. All of the Tamiful doses and more than 47,000 Relenza doses expire in 2015, Roth’s statement said.
