To support countries with urgent needs for personal protective equipment (PPE), GHSC-PSM established a Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM) to provide a range of critical COVID-19 commodities to countries requiring emergency supplies to address the pandemic. The RRM featured a virtual stockpile of personal protective equipment (PPE) available for immediate dispatch from suppliers direct to recipient countries for delivery in seven days after the issue of a purchase order, instead of the typical lead time of three to five weeks.
As countries worldwide competed for scarce resources, GHSC-PSM developed this innovative solution to deliver the most urgently needed PPE to help countries respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and other public health emergencies. In collaboration with USAID, GHSC-PSM created a list of virtual stockpile commodities based on the most common urgent and emergency orders related to COVID-19, including surgical gowns, barrier gowns, coveralls, examination gloves, face shields, respiratory face masks, and surgical face masks.
After a competitive bidding process in early 2022, the project selected two European wholesalers who keep available a revolving stock of the essential PPE at warehouses in China. The suppliers are required to maintain minimum shelf life and other quality standards. GHSC-PSM is under no obligation to purchase unordered stock, so there is no financial risk to USAID.
So far, we have delivered supplies from the virtual stockpile to Haiti, Honduras, and Panama, with the most commonly ordered items being gowns and face masks. Although the total landed cost of these expedited orders are typically 20 to 50 percent higher than usual, countries order from the stockpile when speed of delivery takes priority over lower price.
This innovative program, which could be easily adopted by other large procurement agents, leverages strong relationships with current suppliers to make it work well for the project, the suppliers, and the clients who order. Most of the commodities are not specific to COVID-19 and can be used to respond to other public health emergencies.
