On August 27, 2021, the Department of Defense (DOD), on behalf of and in coordination with the Department of Health and Human Services, awarded $6.5 million to U.S. Cotton, LLC, a subsidiary of Parkdale, Inc., to increase domestic production capacity of the polyester-tipped swabs used in COVID-19 home test kits and mass testing settings.
U.S. Cotton’s COVID-19 test swab is designed for hospital and laboratory settings and, when used at home, allows for an easier self-administered test. This industrial base expansion effort will allow U.S. Cotton to increase its production capacity from 92 million polyester swab tips per month to approximately 371 million polyester swab tips per month in Cleveland, Ohio, by May 2022 to support domestic COVID-19 testing.
The DOD’s Defense Assisted Acquisition Cell (DA2) led this effort in coordination with the Department of the Air Force’s Acquisition COVID-19 Task Force (DAF ACT). This effort was funded through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to enable and support domestic industrial base expansion for critical medical resources.