Experts at untangling federal paperwork are on the job, helping to get a grip on the medical supply lines. A team of eight “senior supply chain consultants,” led by the same dynamic duo who took charge following the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe, will be working hand-in-hand with the Department of Health and Human Services to get everything flowing smoothly.
Experts at slashing through the red tape
According to publicly available contracting records released last week, the administration signed up seasoned veteran experts of the Katrina disaster relief efforts to dedicate the entire month of April “to support the coronavirus emergency response.”
The rapid spread of Covid-19 around the globe has caused massive quarantine efforts and social-distancing restrictions. That was enough to grind the gears of modern distribution networks to a halt. As expected with anything which involves human nature, confusion and miscommunication have led to shortages of critical provisions.
Hospitals see dwindling stockpiles of supplies. There aren’t enough face masks, protective gear and life-saving equipment to go around. Everyone has been pulling together to do the best with what they have and stretch limited supplies to the limit. They are relieved to know that professional help is on the way. They have 10 other employees trained to untangle global supply chains now and they’re hiring more.
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They know how to get things moving
Our national medical supply stockpile is under the watchful eye of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness. The office is part of the Department of Health and Human Services and they are the ones who inked the deal with J&M Global Solutions, a supply chain consulting firm. The experts are based in Virginia.
The “J” is for Gil Jamieson and the “M” refers to Michelle (McQueeney) McIntire. Both worked side by side under George W. Bush to run the Federal Emergency Management Agency. When they initially started working on FEMA’s Gulf Coast recovery efforts, things weren’t going very well.
They managed to turn things around and get the supplies moving again. They’re already on the job to do it again. The group is currently working on processing state requests for supplies and services.
Hurricane Katrina devastated the entire region in 2005. In 2006, Jamieson took over as the highest-ranking FEMA official in the Gulf and stayed in the post until 2008. During that time, McIntire served as his chief of staff.
One government official who is directly familiar with the contract, says the group of experts were key players in recent outbreak evacuation efforts. Already a regular HHS contractor, they worked on the airlifts of Americans from the epicenter of the pandemic in Wuhan, China and also helped evacuate passengers from cruise ships.
