The Department of Defense, in co-ordination with the Department of Health and Human Services, awarded a $6.8m contract action to Teel Plastics LLC to expand their industrial production capacity for injection molded and extruded swab sticks.
Teel Plastics awarded DoD contract to produce COVID-19 testing components
Teel Plastics' headquarters in Baraboo, Wisconsin
This expansion is needed to support an increased production rate of test swabs for COVID-19 test kits and to ensure sufficient domestic swab manufacturing capacity and supply for potential future pandemics.
This industrial base expansion effort will enable Teel Plastics to increase their production capacity an additional 50 million injection molded swab sticks and 66 million extruded swab sticks per month by March 2021 to support US COVID-19 testing.
Teel Plastics will base this enhanced production capacity in Baraboo, Wisconsin in support of the continued effort spearheaded by the DOD’s Joint Rapid Acquisition Cell (formerly Joint Acquisition Task Force). The Joint Rapid Acquisition Cell is contracted by the 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. Teel’s contract supports a major increase in volume for a market the company has been serving for over forty years.
Teel is also manufacturing an array of other products used in the fight against COVID-19. These include components for medical breathing devices and oral hygiene kits. Teel also manufactures plastic film cores used in the production of IV bags, medication bags, and pharmaceutical packaging. These cores are used in a cleanroom environment.
Teel President Tom Thompson said: “We are very proud and excited to be able to produce these critically needed swab products in the nation’s fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. Our employees have been at the forefront of this battle since March and have produced over 500 million swab sticks to date, and this added capacity will allow us to increase production to provide the country with the needed swab sticks for use in Covid-19 test kits. This new capacity will require over 50 additional employees to be hired at Teel, and we are hiring now for these positions.