The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), on behalf of and in co-ordination with the Department of Health and Human Services, has awarded a $4.65 million firm-fixed price contract to Teel Plastics, to expand US-based industrial production capacity of extruded swab sticks. These swab sticks will support Puritan's efforts to supply swabs for various COVID-19 testing kits.
Teel Plastics, located in Baraboo, Wisconsin, has been a US-based producer of plastic products for over 70 years. This industrial expansion effort will allow Teel to increase their production capacity of extruded swab sticks an additional 200 million per month to over 330 million per month by July 2022. Teel is planning to add over 25 employees to meet this increase in production rate.
The DOD’s Defense Assisted Acquisition (DA2) Cell 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 medical resources.
Teel CEO Jerry Pritchett said: “We’re proud of the role our employees have played in helping to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. This additional funding will both increase our capacity and allow for more secure production in a second facility.”