On October 16, 2020, the Department of Defense (DOD), in coordination with the Department of Health and Human Services, awarded a $6.98 million Firm-Fixed Price contract action to Teel Plastics, LLC, to expand US-based industrial production capacity of injection-molded and extruded swabsticks used in the production of COVID-19 testing kits. Teel Plastics, LLC has been a US-based producer of medical plastic products for over forty years.
This industrial-base expansion effort will allow Teel Plastics to increase production capacity of injection-molded and extruded swabsticks in Baraboo, Wisconsin. This award will increase Teel Plastics’ production capacity by approximately an additional 50 million per month for each swabstick type by March 2021, to support domestic COVID-19 testing. Teel Plastics is planning to add over 30 employees to meet this increase in production rate.
This effort has been led by the DOD’s Defense Assisted Acquisition (DA2) Cell, in coordination with the Department of the Air Force’s Acquisition COVID-19 Task Force (DAF ACT). It is contracted by a Department of Air Force Acquisition Organization and funded through the Health Care Enhancement Act (HCEA), to enable and support domestic industrial-base expansion for critical medical resources.